The art of story telling

Since I barely have time to watch movies, I will switch my blog content from movies to something more fundamental to the movies - story telling. In multiple classes, readings, conversations at my business school, this sentiment reverberates - A compelling story is what sells the product. We are encouraged to give stock pitches in the form of simple stories, we are taught the components of a good story - the beginning, a middle, and an end. While learning all of this, one thing struck me - I have been watching so many movies before business school, now I can put all of those movies in this 'story' context. Analyze movies through a new lens, and translate my movie watching experience to something important - the art of story telling!

Movie Review: My Name is Khan - Too emotional!

“Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist”

The above statement pretty much sums up the movie.

Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is a very intelligent Muslim Indian immigrant living in the United States. He suffers from a rare disease called Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He meets Mandira (Kajol), a beautician living in San Francisco. When he just settles down in life with her in a San Francisco suburb, he becomes victim to an act of hate-crime in the post 9/11 United States. Devastated by this experience, he follows the US President’s itinerary in a hope to meet him and tell him “Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist”. It is this journey that forms the back bone of the movie, with his flash backs and the challenges he faces along the road.

This is probably one of the most emotional movies I’ve watched in my recent memory – too emotional to be called an entertainer! There are very strong emotional sequences when a challenged person has to undergo the atrocities of life, which almost makes you cry! Shah Rukh has performed decently well as an autistic person, but I guess he could not help but bring his lover-boy image (being a Karan Johar movie and all..) - which contradicts and leaves you in a confused state – is he an autistic person to pity for? Or a lover boy to dream about? Kajol is not very convincing in her role – as a single mom who decides to marry an autistic person. Though the character is powerful, the screenplay doesn’t give her much opportunity to showcase her acting talent. Being a Karan Johar movie, Shah Rukh dons bright and colorful clothes, even dances to catch tunes, and tries to lure those starry eyed youngsters – in spite of being an autistic person, which spoils the message of the movie. I think this movie is Karan Johar’s attempt to reproduce the magic of Forrest Gump, a simple challenged person achieving great success, but the movie has simply failed to even come close.

Though the movie has a lot of promise, I think the movie utterly fails to deliver any of it. Unless you want to watch an emotional movie and cry a lot, you would be better off considering something more entertaining.


Recommendations:

For frequent movie-goers: Don’t Recommend

For moderate movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Don’t Recommend

Book Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid - A comic genius!

After reading some serious books like “Book of Life”, “The Selfish Gene”, “Monk who sold his Ferrari”, etc., I was on the lookout for a light and funny book, a book that makes me laugh and lifts my spirit. I saw the Wimpy Kid book on display at a local bookstore – the frontispiece looked quite promising, so I picked up the book to read. I am not an impulsive person, not by a long shot, but this was one impulsive decision that paid off handsomely!

This book, called a “novel in cartoons” is simply a journal of a fictional middle school kid named Greg Heffley. In his journal, Greg describes his exploits with some funny illustrations. The author, Jeff Kinney, started off this series as a comic strip on a website - in the form of individual journal entries. After the initial success, he took the individual entries and put them together in the book format. There are four books in this series, and I have listed them below, in descending order of my rating:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

The Wimpy Kid books are one of the funniest books I’ve read in recent times. The books are mainly targeted for kids and teenagers, so they are very simple and easy to read. One of those books where you don’t have to think, but just read and laugh out loud! Another thing to note in this book is Greg Heffley’s character. If you read between the lines, you will notice that Greg always maintains a positive outlook towards life. Any time something doesn’t work out, which will be the case mostly, he will not be disappointed or discouraged. He just says “too bad” and moves on. He does not feel jealous or hateful or anything of the sort. Too bad he is just a cartoon character – only if we humans could emulate him!

If you have a comic bent of mind, this book is a must-read. This simple “novel in cartoons” will have you rolling on the floor laughing! You may also learn a lesson –a lesson probably more powerful than the ones mentioned in “Monk who sold his Ferrari”!

Book Review: Monk who sold his Ferrari - The usual platitudes!

One of the highly recommended books, I wanted to read this book for over three years now. I read it half way through two years ago, and never got around to completing it. I finally blocked some time on a recent Sunday to read this book, and finished it in one sitting.

This book belongs to the “self-help” genre, in which the author, Robin Sharma, provides a set of techniques to follow that will improve your quality of life – more purpose, more energy, more happiness, etc. When applied, these techniques are supposed to solve your life’s problems. The techniques are described with the help of a fable – in fact, two fables. In one fable, a hot-shot wealthy trial lawyer named Julian Mantle gives away all his material belongings, including his Ferrari, and sets off on a journey to the East – to find the mystic secrets of happy living. He meets a bunch of sages in the East, learns the secrets, and shares it with his friend back in the West. He explains these secrets through another fable. When I first started out reading this book, I was eagerly awaiting for the elusive elixir, but only to be disappointed in the end.

Though the “fable” idea is pretty slick, the book has nothing but banality. There is no great technique that you don’t know about already – it is just that the stuff you know is explained to you in a slightly convincing fashion. Some of the stuff makes sense, though it appears entirely obvious (example - “Write down your goals”, “Wake up early in the morning”, etc.). The book has some contradictions as well – some things the author says in the beginning are contradicted by him in the latter part of the book (if you manage to connect the dots). I also felt that the author’s narrative style a bit redundant – he seems to me like a person with limited expressiveness trying to talk about a lot of things – and ends up talking about all of them in the same vein.

If you have not read many “self-help” books, and are interested to read one, this may be a good read. If you have read some already, or are not interested in that genre, this book has very less to offer. You can read it to revisit some of the obvious techniques you might already know – but don’t expect to get any silver bullet out of this!

Movie Review: Chance pe Dance - An average fare!

This movie was not on my to-watch list, but I saw this movie since there were no better ones to watch! I have always admired Shahid Kapoor’s dancing talent, so thought I could find out how he fared in this dance-centric movie.

Sameer Behl (Shahid Kapoor) is a struggling actor with amazing talent looking for a break in Bollywood. In spite of his immense talent, he will find it extremely difficult to land a gig since he will have no money, no family in the movie industry, and no political connections. In his difficult journey he meets Tina Sharma (Genelia D’Souza), a struggling choreographer, who recognizes his talent and encourages him to realize his dream against all odds. The movie takes you through Sameer’s trials and tribulations in his chosen path, and his ultimate destiny.

The only crowd-puller for this movie was Shahid’s dancing talent. Though Shahid has done his best, the choreography is very poor. There is probably only one dance sequence in the movie where you watch Shahid and go “wow”. Everything else seems very ordinary. Shahid, for whatever reason, seems to be trying very hard to make it big after his break up with Kareena – maybe an ex-lover’s fued, and he has tried really hard in this movie too, but nobody else has supported him. Genelia is a complete misfit to the role – this girl can’t dance properly, act properly, or even talk properly – wonder how she is still surviving in the industry. She seemed cute and nice in her role in “Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na”, and may be the success of that movie is carrying her still. The movie is fraught with illogical sequences (which is okay I guess, considering a Bollywood movie, but they kind of stand out in this movie).

I would not recommend anyone to watch this movie. Unless you an ardent fan of Shahid, and want to go see him dance (albeit to bad choreography), and drool at his six packs and broad chest, you are better of saving your time and money by passing this movie.

Recommendations

For frequent movie-goers: Don’t Recommend

For moderate movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Don’t Recommend

Book Review: The Selfish Gene - A new perspective of the world around us!

One of my college friends recommended this book a few years ago. I was intrigued by the concept of the book, so I bought it. For the past few years, this book had been just decorating my book shelf. I finally got around to reading it just last month, and this turned out to be one of the best books I’ve ever read!

This seminal book by Richard Dawkins, presents a new angle to the traditional Darwinian theory of evolution. While Darwin maintained that the individual, the organism, was the basic unit of natural selection, Dawkins presents a “gene centered evolution” angle. Dawkins argues that the basic unit of natural selection is not an organism, but the individual genes that make up the organism. In fact, he goes on to say that the individual bodies are instruments manufactured by the genes for their own survival! Dawkins provides various theories, case studies, examples, and analogies to prove this point – and they all make incredible sense!

This book is one of the top five books I’ve read in my life. Maybe partly due to my predilection towards genetics and evolution; an awe of the diversity, order, and balance of the various life forms in this world; or some reason I don’t know, I just loved this book. Dawkins provides very compelling theories for the origin of life on Earth, animal behavior patterns, co-habitation, mating habits, and things of that sort. Some of the principles he explains can be applied to so many real-world behavioral problems as well. Using these principles, you can explain some of the mysterious human behaviors, the reasons behind them, and what factors will bring about a balance in the system. The chapters are well organized, theories are well presented, and key points are articulated nicely. The only thing I didn’t like about the book is Dawkins’ condescending view of his opponents and rival theories. I felt that Dawkins does not provide due consideration and regard to the rival theories, and haughtily dismisses all of them.

If you have even a slight inclination towards genetics, evolution, or general diversity of life, this is a book not to be missed. This book provides a convincing view of the origin of life, animal behaviors, genetic influence, and the role the “selfish gene” plays in the world at large.

Movie Review: 3 Idiots - Aamir all the way!

The annual Aamir’s flick for this year, 3 Idiots, was released on Dec-25, just in time for Christmas holidays. The movie is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel “Five point someone”. The script was written by the director himself, Rajkumar Hirani, and Chetan Bhagat has stamped his seal of approval on the script.

I had been constantly intrigued by the posters and the trailers of this movie – and wanted to watch this as soon as I could. I went to this movie last weekend in a local movie hall – and walked out with a resolution to watch every Aaamir movie that gets released from now on!

3 Idiots is a story about three students of Imperial College of Engineering (ICE), a premier Engineering college in India (based on the IITs). Rancho (Aamir Khan) is a think-out-of-the-box kind of guy, who comes up with innovative solutions to all the problems of life. Raju (Sharman Joshi) comes from a poor family, is highly superstitious, and is determined to do really well in his studies. Farhaan (Madhavan) has been forced to major in Engineering by his parents for the promise of a better future, but his heart yearns for something else. The movie is about the college life of these three guys, the stress they go through these days, how each one deals with this stress, and finally find their calling in life.

Aaamir steals the show in this movie. He is very well supported by the rest of the cast – Boman Irani, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, and Madhavan. Aamir plays a character that is about 30 years younger than him – and he plays the character so well that you won’t even think for a moment how old Aamir really is! The movie has a strong message, albeit a cliché. The story keeps you interested throughout the movie. The movie is insanely funny – and you are guaranteed to laugh your guts out during the movie. In fact, I felt this movie was almost up there with “Andaz Apna Apna”! A lot of drama unfolds in the later part of the movie – in spite of being impractical, I think the drama has been well handled. The music score is pretty good too – thought it doesn’t boast of any runaway hits, the music score supports the plot well.

3 Idiots is a movie not to be missed. Aamir seems to be doing one better in every new movie – and he has kept that up with this movie too. The movie is a laugh-riot, and is guaranteed to lift your spirits. If you have resolved to watch only one Bollywood movie this year, this one has to be it!

Recommendations

For frequent movie-goers: Recommend
For moderate movie-goers: Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Recommend

Movie Review: Avatar - Visual Splendor!

If you were given a chance to be reborn, with a fresh new body, a body that seems to have expunged all the deleterious effects of time, but with the same conscious you have now - a chance to start over all again, would you do anything different with your life? Isn’t that the concept of an avatar? – A brand new start with the same conscious?

Well, this isn’t the theme of the movie – these are just my philosophical musings based on the movie!

“Pandora” is an Earth-like moon of a planet in the Alpha Centauri system. It is inhabited by the “Navi” people - human-like creatures with feline features (“Feline Humanoids” is my nomenclature for them). Pandora also supports many diverse life forms, much like our beloved Earth. Pandora has rich deposits of the mineral “Unobtainium” (talk about eponyms!), which is very valuable in Earth – so a group of earthlings – comprised of scientists, businessmen, and the armed forces form a base near Pandora, with the intention of exploiting Pandora for its rich natural resources. The scientists find a way to genetically engineer Navi bodies using human DNA. A human whose DNA matches with this genetically engineered body can enter this body while his human body sleeps. So the human will get a new Navi body with the existing human conscious – a new avatar of the human mind, in a fresh new body. Scientists plan to use these avatars to learn about the Navi people and exploit them. The story revolves around the Navi body of a handicapped marine called Jake Sully, and his forays in Pandora.

This half-a-billion dollar movie does live up to its expectations. The director, James Cameron, has not cut any corners in displaying the visual spectacle of Pandora. In spite of being a totally separate celestial body from Earth, Pandora supports much of the Earth-like life forms – plants, reptiles, insects, dinosaurs, humanoids, etc. Makes me wonder if Darwinian principles of evolution and natural selection hold good in any part of the universe! The animation is excellent. James Cameron has used the latest in technology to make Pandora look “realistic” – and it does. Latest “stereoscopic” motion picture cameras were used to make the 3D images look realistic. Don’t expect any out-of-the-world 3D experience though (like snakes crawling into your clothes, etc.). The story is a bit weak, rather nothing great (ironic, coming from the director of “Titanic”), but the visual effects more than make up for the story. The director specifically chose rather unknown actors to keep the cost low – and the rookie cast has risen to the occasion.

Avatar is a movie not to be missed. The amazing special effects, the novel concept, and sheer Cameron magic will leave you content in the end.

Recommendations
For frequent movie-goers: Recommend
For moderate movie-goers: Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Recommend