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Bollywood needs to shape up or be ready to ship out

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The Tamil movie Mandela has, for its protagonist, a very unlikely hero (strictly in terms of mainstream Bollywood.) He is not hunky, he’s not brave, he can’t woo a woman, he cannot sing or dance, he cannot roar like a lion or take on a bunch of villains…hell no, he doesn’t even have a real name! Realistically speaking, a character like this would be used only for comedic relief in a Bollywood movie. The henchman’s seventh sidekick who gets laughed at or is made to mouth ridiculous dialogues to fill up the space for comedic relief.   The heroine is unlike the Bollywood heroine. She’s neither delicate nor soft spoken. She has a lock of white hair, she rides around on a moped, she has an absolutely unconventional (in Bollywood terms) profession (she’s the postmaster of the village post office) she doesn’t have brothers or bodyguards to protect her. Oh wait, she also has a working brain, plenty of common sense and loads of gumption.     But what this movie tells us is that there is a s

SHORT STORY - Don't stay late at work

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It wasn't so loud in the day. But at that time of the night, the tick tick of the digital clock was obnoxiously obvious. She gritted her teeth in anxiety, looking from the clock to her boss and then back. The blue suit sat across the table, a stray pen in one hand and the phone receiver crouched between his ear and shoulder. Oblivious of the girl sitting across the table from him, he spoke into the phone… “Now here’s a better one…Why does Santa come with a huge sack?" She grimaced, trying to ignore his voice. This never went well, really…the same dirty jokes, the constant bawdy banter, never upfront...but still, non stop dirty talk. “No. Take another guess, d******d!” he spoke to the person at the other end of the phone. He sneakily glanced to see if she was listening in. She wondered if there was really another person at the end of the line. “Ok. I’ll tell you then,” he continued… “its because he comes only once a year.” “Haa haa haa haa haa haa. Got that??? Comes!!

3 must-see series for women on Netflix and Amazon Prime

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So yes...my transition from TV entertainment, to the internet is complete. Now I am just one phone call away from disconnecting my cable subscription. In the meanwhile, the last I heard was that a bunch of you were hissing at the umpteenth season of a shape shifting reptile who is ruling the prime time nowadays. Or if you don't have the stomach for it, some of you, I hear, are having to eat an insipid diet of kitchen wars and neighbourhood gossips. I was beginning to think that there was no hope for female kind at least in the entertainment business...until I came across these series. So I implore you to finally cut the umbilical cord between you and terrible content being churned out in the name of entertainment...here are 3 series which you must catch up on the Internet. Strong, interesting and layered female characters, women who you can laugh with and at and most importantly, stories which stay with you long after you have turned off that WiFi button.   1. GRACE &

What we learnt from Sridevi’s life, her roles and why her death is a loss for women

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It will be needless to say that Sridevi’s death is an irreparable loss not only to the movie industry, but to a generation of women who grew up during the times when movies were largely about machismo, unrealistic male protagonists and largely sidelined and stereotypical female movie characters. Sridevi commanded a presence like no other heroine of her times could. Movies and characters were woven around her and she brought to the table, a lot more than entertainment. This was, in itself a feat, which no other female actor could accomplish. She came as a breath of her fresh air in an industry which was used to doling out weepy mothers who needed their sons to pay for their cough medicines to sisters who needed their brothers to avenge their rapes to married women who needed husbands to run their home and hearth. Every character she played in all her movies, there was a strong woman inside of her. The titular Chandani…she taught us that it was better to wa

Review: Origin

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Origin by Dan Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars 1. Great one time read. It goes on and on towards the end, I thought, but I still wanted to finish it since it was quite enthralling. 2. While reading, I thought that the end will be lame but I was pleasantly surprised. Of all his books, the end of this book brought home a few truths which are staring at us in the face. 3. If you want to read Dan Brown, be equipped with your Wikipedia page open on your computer or mobile phone. There are so many historical facts thrown in and most of his books feature some real places. It is quite a treat to look them up while reading the book, so as to a clearer picture of the proceedings in the novel. View all my reviews

Recipe - Thukpa (from Ladakh)

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So my husband returned yesterday from Ladakh and he told me about this exquisite and delicately spiced noodle soup which they had as a staple diet throughout the ride. This is what it looks like and I tried to make it today. Here's the recipe: It's quite simple. 1. Boil just a handful of noodles with a bit of salt. 2. Heat oil and add some minced garlic and chopped green chillies. 3. Add a cup of onion. Cook till translucent. Add chopped tomatoes. Cook well. 4. Add veggies of your choice. Cabbage, French beans, mushrooms, cabbage, corn, carrots etc. If you want the non-veg version, add shredded chicken. 5. Saute and let them turn soft. 6. Add garam masala (just a tad pinch), red chilly powder (pinch), black pepper powder, salt and chicken masala (even for the veg version). I also added some Maggi magic masala. 7. Add water and let it boil, like soup. When it's done, add the noodles and top it up with coriander. You can add a spot of vinegar too, if you want a tan

Review: Maya's New Husband

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Maya's New Husband by Neil D'Silva My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read and finished this book in a day. But I wished I had waited to read it. That's because currently, my pet dog has a terrible skin condition, the sky is dismal and dark and it has been raining for a couple of days and my maid just infirmed me that a dead body washed up by the shore at a beach close to my residence. There is enough in the world, already to be mortified about and then there's this book. It's just added an extra layer of 'dismal' to my mood. Then why the four stars? I normally associate horror fiction with ghosts lurking in the cupboard and beds moving around in the middle of the night and that sort of imaginary stuff. So when I picked up this book, I fully expected to read it with my eyes closed, as I normally do, when I am encountered with a stray horror movie on the TV screen. But this book is not that sort of horror. This has nothing to do wit