Argo - Movie Review

Adapted from CIA operative Tony Mendez's book 'Master of Disguise' Argo is a real life story of a rescue operation of six American diplomats from Iran in 1979. It's set in the time when the Shah of Iran has been given asylum by America during the Iranian revolution. The irate Iranian rebels storm the American embassy and take over 50 diplomats hostage - six escape into the roads and are given shelter by the Canadian ambassador.

To rescue the six diplomats, Tony Mendez comes up with the idea of a Hollywood movie crew out on a location shoot - only the crew are to pose as Canadians. The office is set up, a reputable producer brought in to back the movie, publicity given , parts made up for the six diplomats, papers made and Mendez leaves for Teheran as Associate Producer. How he manages to pull off the location scout in the busiest bazaar of Teheran and then attempts to walk out with the six diplomats right under the noses of the Revolutionary Guard is what Argo all about.

Argo by the way is the name of the movie script - a science fiction movie. Ben Affleck is taciturn and impassive but it is Alan Arkin as the producer Lester who spices up the movie. Taut and packed with action, it takes you into history (shots of the real images are shown along with the ones shot for the movie).Definitely on the watch list because its highly entertaining. Argo received seven nominations at the Oscars apparently and won three - Best Picture, Best Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. George Clooney co-produced this with Ben Affleck and Grant Heslov. Ben Affleck also directed the movie - and did it well. I like the kind of movies Clooney produces - they are entertaining and meaningful, have a political statement or agenda, and are certainly thought provoking. Well done fellows.

Before Sunset - Movie review

'Before Sunset' picks up some nine years after the two protagonists meet in the first movie 'Before Sunrise'. The American boy Jesse (Ethan Hawke) has now become a writer, and has written about his experiences with a young French woman Celine (Julie Delpy) he met on a train and who spend a night roaming around Vienna, talking to each other and enjoying one another's company. He is now on a book tour to Europe and in Paris, he bumps into Celine at the bookstore. From the bookstore to the cafe, the cafe to the boat, the boat to her home, the two catch up on their lives after their last meeting. They had promised to meet one another six months later at the same place in Vienna, a promise that Jesse honours but Celine does not - because her grandmother died.

Anyway this story is taut as the two protagonists obviously share a superb chemistry and somehow never fulfilled the promise of their first meeting which was sparkling and electric. Now older and in other relationships, he is married and she has a boyfriend, the two realise that perhaps they made mistakes by not pursuing this relationship. They rediscover their frequency, then piece together their lives since that day, then honestly look at their lives now, find the rust melting and the relationship blossoming. Full of lovely little moments, wonderful dialogue and a subtle and fine insight into relationships, 'Before Sunset', is as wonderful as 'Before Sunrise' was, and it's a privilege to take a peek into their lives, their love, their fears and their passions.Coffee, cold evening, warm blanket, one you love, kind of stuff.

Richard Linklater directs, wrote the screenplay with lead actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, which was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hawke and Delpy are bang on as the couple, older and wiser, and its beautiful to watch them. If I recall right, they do not even kiss in the movie, but their chemistry indicates something much deeper. Perhaps the story reminds us of the great irony of our lives where people are distant with the person they live with all their lives and share a closeness with strangers they meet rarely. Must watch especially if you're a romantic.

A Clockwork Orange - Movie Review

Saw this movie in the early 1990s and figured nothing much from it. I knew it was a cult movie by Stanley Kubrick then. Saw the 1971 movie again the other day. Now I appreciate what Stanley Kubrick did to the Anthony Burgess novel.

A bunch of deviants, led by a sex and violence crazed gang leader are on a spree. First they beat up an old drunk, then knife a rival gang, then they steal a car, cripple a writer, rape his wife and then a lady artist. All this - and one group sex scene - shot is a fascinating manner by Kubrick. The gangleader is betrayed by his mates who are tired of his overbearing ways an is caught by the cops and sent to jail for fourteen years. Murder.

In jail the young man learns of a new system of reform that the government is trying and tries to get into that. He is picked and is treated - several processes for aversion therapy including showing the patient violent images constantly - thereby creating an aversion in him to all sex and violence. He is confirmed as treated as his body rejects all impulses to sex and violence. The Minister of Interior hails it as a great step forward and releases him into society - fully reformed.

But the deviant is trapped. He is not himself anymore. Kicked out of his home, bashed up by the drunks, almost drowned by cops (who are his old friends) and driven to suicide by the writer he crippled, the deviant almost dies as he jumps off trying to commit suicide - but survives. Bad press forces the Minister to come forward and seek a pact with the deviant who agrees to help him and behave as if he is reformed. But in reality the effect of his treatment wears off and he finds that he has no aversion to sex or violence after all. The film ends.

The lead star - Malcolm Macdowell - does a brilliant job. I have not seen any movie that treats such a depressing and violent theme, such a deep and profound line of thought so lightly, yet getting the point across strongly. I have not read the novel so i don't know and cannot comment on whether the movie did justice to it or not. But by itself - riveting. And for all those movies that claim they are different - see this. This is terrific stuff. But be prepared for sex and violence.

The Passion Test - Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood

This is a New York Times Bestseller and talks a language I like. 'The Passion Test - The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose' is a nice, simple and easy read and one that could well put you in touch with your passions and your life purpose. After all what's a life that is lived without passion?

The authors, Janet and Chris, are co-founders of an online magazine Healthy Wealthy nWise and partners in Enlightened Alliances, a marketing consulting firm. Married, but separated now, the two have varied experiences: from sales to consulting, training to motivational speaking, working with lepers in India and practicing deep meditation, study Vedic tradition to interviewing saints in India, and some more. The authors bring a simple, sweet perspective of following one's passion, through their own lives. (And they are much more than that short resume I presented.) They constantly urge you - when faced with a choice, always choose in favour of your passions. All along the book we have Janet's own story of how she followed her passion and how it paid off. When you follow your passions, there is no way you can lose.

Anyway, the idea, as you must have got it by now, is to follow your passions. But wait - first identify your passions. So you take a passion test. Shortlist the same and put them up in your priorities. I agree with the authors that it is the 'what' (we are passionate about) that we must first be clear about before wondering about the 'how'. Most people stop at the 'how' and the 'what's are beyond them. Another thing I liked - that passion is a process and goals are outcomes.

Then of course most of us fall off the track from our passions because following your passions sometimes seems like hard work as it may not have an assured check coming with it. But the authors keep us on track with several other exercises like creating passions scores, passion cards, markers, vision boards, passion pages, 100th birthday speeches, appreciation games and other interesting methods to stay on track. Doing the exercises is a fun and interesting way to get in touch with ourselves. Also following your passion has its own way of rewarding you if you are honest to it - and to yourself.

The second part of the book has excerpts of interviews that Janet did with saints and wise people she met in her travels in India and the Himalayas. Their words of wisdom reinforces what the book has to say. Interesting stuff. From surrendering to life, to the importance of action without attachment to the result, the nature's guidance system, even a bit of jyotishya and the importance of trusting to speed up the process, Janet covers much ground and sets up the idea well.

It's good fun and certainly useful for those who wish to follow their passions and even otherwise its a fun and interesting read that could add some new dimensions to your life. I think the best way to gain from this book is to do the exercises and keep looking at them, working at them, bit by bit, everyday. With passions, once you start, you won't stop. Recommended.

40 Year Old Virgin - Movie Review

You can guess pretty much the entire story even as you see the title. It goes in pretty much the same vein. A middle aged virgin at 40. Shy. Does not meet women. Has his own little habits. Cooks, cleans, plays with GI Joes and is hopeless with women. Cannot drive. Rides a bicycle.

His friends from the store find out and try to help him - not always with the best results. The virgin however finds a woman in all this - a grandmother technically - and (hopefully) loses his virginity too in the process.


Sweet. Amusing. You can get through it certainly and you do want to see what he makes of his life finally.

A Visit to the Alma Mater - St. Gabriel's High School, Kazipet

No trip to Warangal can be complete without stopping by at my old school, St. Gabriel's Boys High School of the Montfort Brothers. I joined the school in the 5th class (1975) after doing my fourth at Fatima Girls High School. For some reason St. Gabriel's only took in students from their 5th class and luckily for us, Fatima Girls would allow boys to study till the 4th. I went first and then Ram joined me.

Outside Fatima School gate

Being my first experience in an all boys school St. Gabriel's was a wake up call. The boys were a mix of kids from the neighbouring railway colonies, boys who came from Hanamkonda (like me and my brother Ram) and some even coming from as far as Warangal. All kinds - the gentle sardar who father owned a store, Sarma whose father worked in insurance, the kid who came and relieved me of all my marbles one day, so many more.

Anjali and I in front of our school ground

At the gate

There were many Anglo Indian boys who came from the railway colonies and they were rough kids who were always up to some trouble or the other. But they were good at sports and were good fun.

Walking into the school premises, just as it was then

The block where I studied

Another view of the block

We had large grounds right outside the school and I dreamed of playing cricket on those grounds. In fact there were Inter house cricket tournaments once and I remember watching my seniors Shukla and Raghu whack the cricket ball hard with great admiration in my eyes.

That tree was surely there then

It was to me a replay of Tom Brown's School Days. The railway tracks nearby on which we'd go for walks when we were in our seventh, the hostel where my good friend Koteshwar Rao stayed, the table tennis table and games in the brother's quarters, the library, the school grounds, the water taps, it was heady stuff.

In front of the assembly

The cricket grounds for practice 

The auditorium

I was growing up then on a fine diet of Enid Blytons and Hardy Boys, Hugo Montenegro and English films that came to town - like the Towering Inferno.

Water taps, a revelation to Anjali

The office

We had a cricket team that practiced and I was picked for it as an off spinner but we never played a game despite promises by Bro. Joseph that we'd play St. Paul's some day.

The long corridor

Watching the Fatima girls walk past, perhaps gazing longingly at some of our ex-class mates too, playing football in the grounds, taking the bus to and fro Water Tank to school, well it was all part of the good old days.

Anjali insisted on this pic, she took it

The delicate David sir who was our class teacher in the VII th and to whom I addressed a letter after I moved to Hyderabad (which he apparently read out in the class), Bro. M.K. Joseph who was tall and handsome and taught us Social Studies, the loud and lecherous Anand sir who told us about the nude sadhus at the Kumbh mela and who apparently had something going with one colleague of his, my good friends Koti, Sarma, Sreenu and Ramana, Sunil and Anil, Lloyd the terrifying Anglo Indian, Lester and Richard who played cricket with us, and Bro. Vincent who was our Principal then.

Montfort

 I hated leaving St. Gabriel's when Dad got transferred and Ram and I went on long protests but it did not work. We even offered to stay in the hostel.

The lane leading to both schools

The ground from the bridge

But what totally knocked me over were the boards that were put up on the walls of the corridor about what children feel and how they should be treated.

Read them

 Knowing the Montfort brothers as I did the major part of my schooling with them in Warangal first and then All Saints at Hyderabad, and knowing such wonderful teachers such as Bro. K.M. Joseph. Bro. M.K. Joseph, Bro. Vincent and others to name a few, one can expect no less.

For all the good times and the wonderful lessons, for growing us up so well and shaping what we are today in so many ways, a huge thank you to St. Gabriel's High School, the Montfort brothers and all my teachers and friends. It was great fun guys.

Day Trip to Warangal - Warangal Fort

The Kakatiyas ruled from Warangal or Orugallu as it was called then from 1083 to 1323 CE. They were Telugu rulers and ruled over a large tract of land which included the Golconda area.

The outer granite wall

The Warangal fort was their bastion and they moved here from the neighbouring Hanumakonda which was their capital earlier. The Warangal fort is rather odd as it is built on flat land and not on a hill top or water body as most other forts are.

One of the four famous Kakatiya thoranams

Ruins of the trikutalaya temple site with the four thoranams on each side

But it has three walls apparently - the first one of mud and then of granite, walls of 9 kms and 4 kms circumference, a large swayambhu trikutalaya (temples of Shiva, Surya and Vishnu existed) temple with the impressive architecture in granite and basalt with its famous thoranams, the solid Khush Mahal or Sitab Khan Mahal, an old Shiva temple which are all still there.

Anjali getting some shade under an exquisite 13 the century  sculpture

Check out the detail on granite

No trace exists of the palaces of the Kakatiya rulers.

Shobhs and Anjali are framed

The detail on the chains on the elephant is astounding

Credit is given to the Kakatiyas for bringing the Telugu speaking region together. From Rudra Deva (1158-1195) who transformed a small principality into a large kingdom and constructed the 1000 pillar temple, to Ganapati Deva his nephew who was captured and imprisoned and later became the king of the Kakatiya empire and constructed both Golconda fort and the Ramappa temple, to Rudrama Devi (1262-1289) who was an able administrator and warrior, to Pratap Rudra who extended the kingdom till Raichur until his capture and apparent suicide while being taken to Delhi by the Tughluq army.

Anjali with one of the thoranams behind her

The ruins which have been restored partly by the Archaeological Society of India

For a 13th century fort the architecture is amazing. The work on the granite and basalt is stunning. The four thoranams that stand at the site of the trikutalaya and the other pieces that are left behind show ample proof of the Kakatiya architecture and expertise. The Nandi is another great piece of work as are the elephants.

Exquisite

One of the fort's outer walls, solid as ever

Shiva temple

Nandi and an old 13th century building behind it, seemingly occupied

Another Nandi at the temple

The Ekasila (monolith) rock with old 13th century structures on it from the Khush Mahal

In fact, even the well preserved Khush Mahal shows how solid the royal architecture was so long ago.

The well preserved Khush Mahal

Entrance to the Khush Mahal a.ka. Sitab Khan Mahal

Inside the Khush Mahal

Called also the Sitab Khan Mahal after a Hindu governor of the Bahmani kings, Sitapaty, the Khush Mahal is also believed to have been constructed over the original Kakatiya palace. A visit to the Warangal fort takes up a  good two hours. Better if you have your own conveyance so you can explore a bit. Carry water, caps and shades. Well worth the trouble.