Monday, April 27, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
" Court " the film.
The Multi language film "Court " was released last week .My parents wished to watch it. We had read reviews by Shanta Gokhale & others. .All had immense praise for the movie.So ,we decided to watch it as soon as it was possible. We finally got to watch it yesterday.Well ,the movie is worth a watch not just once but many times over.
It tells the story of Narayan Kamble a folk poet who pens poems & sings them on stage .A BMC ( Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai ) cleaner of gutters, Pawar is found dead. Kamble is accused of causing the death by aiding & abetting Pawar's suicide. Kamble had performed in the slums where Pawar resided .It is alleged that Kamble's songs & performance instigated Pawar's death.
Narayan Kamble is arrested. His lawyer,Mr Vora is a Gujarati .At one stage, he says that he is unable to understand the public prosecutor speaking in Marathi.The judge says that he will translate it for him. The bail application keeps getting postponed & postponed for some reason or the other. Just goes to show that delays are the only reality of our judicial system.The police officer makes excuses for the absence of the witness. The judge reprimands him & yet ,the feeling it evokes is of indifference & apathy. Nobody seems to be bothered about the death of the sweeper. The State is more inclined to make a scapegoat of the poet more than anything else. After all ,such small & irrelevant things keep happening in Indian metros.
The dead man's wife tells the court that he used to drink & then enter the gutters for obvious reasons. No gloves, masks and or gum boots were ever provided. Her evidence makes the audience cringe. And if this is the indifference, shown by one of the richest Municipal Corporations in Asia , it is better to leave things unsaid about other municipal bodies .
Narayan Kamble ,the poet is made to look like a terrorist by the police & the State .This evokes humour. There are no bombs, no guns & yet his singing of songs exhorting people to revolt is enough to arrest him on charges of Sedition under the Indian Penal Code .Sedition is waging war against the Government by law established.
Pawar's wife says that if she keeps attending the hearing at court,she will lose whatever savings she has .Mr Vora offers to help financially.She declines & tells him to find employment for her. This makes one ponder about the quiet dignity & self respect of the woman in times of grief .Such scenes make the movie very poignant .Kamble gets bail & how .And yet, the case has not ended Kamble has constantly been under the State lens for his alleged activities of giving speeches, singing songs, publishing etal .His lawyer pays the bail amount. Kamble protests & the lawyer tells him," Please do not worry.This case is going to go on long & you can pay me later ." All the parties know that no case ever ends in our judicial system,especially irrelevant ones like arrest & charging artists of instigating people against Governments.Yet ,the law enforcers will strictly pursue such cases while the criminals,black marketeers, rapists,murders go about freely creating horror & havoc. Maybe, the police believe that the terror unleashed by such elements is enough to maintain peace.And they can do the real task of protecting the State, from elements like Kamble !
Kamble is booked again .Will his lawyer bail him out this time ? And what about his health ? Kamble is a senior citizen & ailing in health. Will the judge grant relief in time & on what grounds ?
All the actors have acted superbly.The court scenes are subdued & real . and yet the irony of the judicial system hits home very hard. It leaves one questioning our judicial system ,our metros,the sweepers who keep our surroundings clean & just about everything else that is going wrong. It makes us aware of the pitfalls & the irony of it all.
This film won the Luigi De Laurentils ( Lion of the Future Award ) for Tamhane,the director at its premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in September, 2014 .This movie was awarded the best feature film award at the 62nd National Film Awards.It has won 18 other awards at various international film festivals .
In the film, there were subtitles in English throughout the film. Moreover,the Gujarati lawyer speaks in Hindi,English & Gujarati. So,non Marathi audiences can understand the film with ease.
I felt ,that I was back again in the courtroom which I had left years back for a desk job. The Industrial & Labour court where I started learning the nuances of law was just the same as the courtroom in the film.It was yesterday once more !
It tells the story of Narayan Kamble a folk poet who pens poems & sings them on stage .A BMC ( Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai ) cleaner of gutters, Pawar is found dead. Kamble is accused of causing the death by aiding & abetting Pawar's suicide. Kamble had performed in the slums where Pawar resided .It is alleged that Kamble's songs & performance instigated Pawar's death.
Narayan Kamble is arrested. His lawyer,Mr Vora is a Gujarati .At one stage, he says that he is unable to understand the public prosecutor speaking in Marathi.The judge says that he will translate it for him. The bail application keeps getting postponed & postponed for some reason or the other. Just goes to show that delays are the only reality of our judicial system.The police officer makes excuses for the absence of the witness. The judge reprimands him & yet ,the feeling it evokes is of indifference & apathy. Nobody seems to be bothered about the death of the sweeper. The State is more inclined to make a scapegoat of the poet more than anything else. After all ,such small & irrelevant things keep happening in Indian metros.
The dead man's wife tells the court that he used to drink & then enter the gutters for obvious reasons. No gloves, masks and or gum boots were ever provided. Her evidence makes the audience cringe. And if this is the indifference, shown by one of the richest Municipal Corporations in Asia , it is better to leave things unsaid about other municipal bodies .
Narayan Kamble ,the poet is made to look like a terrorist by the police & the State .This evokes humour. There are no bombs, no guns & yet his singing of songs exhorting people to revolt is enough to arrest him on charges of Sedition under the Indian Penal Code .Sedition is waging war against the Government by law established.
Pawar's wife says that if she keeps attending the hearing at court,she will lose whatever savings she has .Mr Vora offers to help financially.She declines & tells him to find employment for her. This makes one ponder about the quiet dignity & self respect of the woman in times of grief .Such scenes make the movie very poignant .Kamble gets bail & how .And yet, the case has not ended Kamble has constantly been under the State lens for his alleged activities of giving speeches, singing songs, publishing etal .His lawyer pays the bail amount. Kamble protests & the lawyer tells him," Please do not worry.This case is going to go on long & you can pay me later ." All the parties know that no case ever ends in our judicial system,especially irrelevant ones like arrest & charging artists of instigating people against Governments.Yet ,the law enforcers will strictly pursue such cases while the criminals,black marketeers, rapists,murders go about freely creating horror & havoc. Maybe, the police believe that the terror unleashed by such elements is enough to maintain peace.And they can do the real task of protecting the State, from elements like Kamble !
Kamble is booked again .Will his lawyer bail him out this time ? And what about his health ? Kamble is a senior citizen & ailing in health. Will the judge grant relief in time & on what grounds ?
All the actors have acted superbly.The court scenes are subdued & real . and yet the irony of the judicial system hits home very hard. It leaves one questioning our judicial system ,our metros,the sweepers who keep our surroundings clean & just about everything else that is going wrong. It makes us aware of the pitfalls & the irony of it all.
This film won the Luigi De Laurentils ( Lion of the Future Award ) for Tamhane,the director at its premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in September, 2014 .This movie was awarded the best feature film award at the 62nd National Film Awards.It has won 18 other awards at various international film festivals .
In the film, there were subtitles in English throughout the film. Moreover,the Gujarati lawyer speaks in Hindi,English & Gujarati. So,non Marathi audiences can understand the film with ease.
I felt ,that I was back again in the courtroom which I had left years back for a desk job. The Industrial & Labour court where I started learning the nuances of law was just the same as the courtroom in the film.It was yesterday once more !
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Cover Reveal : Love Again by Shrruti Patole Clarence & Sumeetha Manikandan
Cover
Reveal
Love
Again
by
by
Shrruti Patole
Clarence & Sumeetha Manikandan
A Double Header Novel
A Double Header Novel
Blurb
Love, Again is a double header novel published by Half Baked Beans andFablery with two
novellas - A Tulip in the Desert by Shrruti Patole Clarence and These Lines of Mehendi by Sumeetha
Manikandan.
A historian in making, Charmaine has settled down in Amsterdam after her father migrated from
India when she was very young. Life was picturesque until the final year of Graduation when she elected
to specialize in Egyptology. Thereafter from the time she read the book about Cleopatra, revelation after
revelation turns her world into a tornado!
Raj, another aspiring Historian, walks into her college and her life like a whirlwind. A simpleton from Delhi, Raj too finds mysteries unfolding before him from the time he enters the college library right through to their educational tour to Egypt.A series of events throws them together at every step of their college life despite Charmaine wanting to maintain a distance from ‘this’ natural charmer.
A twist of fate puts Raj and Charmaine in the most unthinkable situation that finally links back to their ‘revelations’. Raj must face a choice again…A choice of history over his love… or does he have the mettle to change history and create his own?
Beautiful and efficient Lalitha loved to deck up brides for their wedding, though her own
marriage was in shambles. When her estranged husband suddenly commits suicide she realizes that
things wouldn’t be the same again…
Shrikanth thought that he was a confirmed bachelor but when his mother refused to get herself treated for cancer unless he got married, he had to get a bride in a hurry.She needed a husband in name, to save her career while he needed to marry to please his mother. Will they find love second time around? Will they lower their shields and succumb to a mutual passion?
TULIP IN THE DESERT
SHRRUTI PATOLE CLARENCE
Raj, another aspiring Historian, walks into her college and her life like a whirlwind. A simpleton from Delhi, Raj too finds mysteries unfolding before him from the time he enters the college library right through to their educational tour to Egypt.A series of events throws them together at every step of their college life despite Charmaine wanting to maintain a distance from ‘this’ natural charmer.
A twist of fate puts Raj and Charmaine in the most unthinkable situation that finally links back to their ‘revelations’. Raj must face a choice again…A choice of history over his love… or does he have the mettle to change history and create his own?
THESE LINES OF MEHENDI
SUMEETHA MANIKANDAN
Shrikanth thought that he was a confirmed bachelor but when his mother refused to get herself treated for cancer unless he got married, he had to get a bride in a hurry.She needed a husband in name, to save her career while he needed to marry to please his mother. Will they find love second time around? Will they lower their shields and succumb to a mutual passion?
About
The Authors
The Authors
Shrruti has been a voracious reader since early years and took to composing poems when she was very young. She has worked as an Aviation Manager for over ten years with various airlines, she has been on a sabbatical for her two son's aged six and one year respectively. She enjoys this welcome break from career, to be able to pursue her passion, writing!
She has to her credit six short stories featuring in different Anthologies; a Hindi poem featuring in Tumbhi’s contest Ehsaas judged by the famous screenwriter Javed Siddiqui.Shrruti is a warm and friendly person who loves music and watching sports when she is not writing.
Stalk her @
Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Google+ | Blog |
Sumeetha Manikandan
Sumeetha Manikandan is a freelance writer and an author who loves to write and base her plots
on the tambrahm community of Mylapore, Chennai. She is the author of ‘The Perfect Groom’ that has
been a best selling ebook on the top 50 charts of Amazon India ever since its publication in
2013.
An avid reader, she loves to read across different genres – romance, historical fiction, non-
fiction, mystery, fantasy etc. A history buff to the core, she is currently translating Ponniyin Selvan – the
evergreen tamil classic epic history by Kalki Krishnamurthy into English.
Married to film maker K.S. Manikandan, Sumeetha lives in Chennai, along with her six year old
daughter.
Are you
ready
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Saturday, April 11, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Book Review : Crossed & Knotted.
"Crossed & Knotted " is a novel penned by 14 authors.This itself is quite interesting as a thread of a story is woven by so many writers ! The novel consists of 14 chapters .Each chapter is by a different author. Each chapter is a story, which is complete in itself and yet ,a part of the novel.The fourteen stories add up to make the complete novel ! The publisher is Readomania.
The first story is about Sudip & how he falls for Megha .They marry & then begin the revealations.It unfolds like a marriage going wrong .Do they divorce or separate ? What about the child ? What is the fault of the child ? Who is at fault ?
The second story is about James or is it Joseph Varughese? How are they connected ? Is it about re birth or someone is playing tricks ?
The third story is about Siya & her family.Her son never seems to sit still.He is restless. Is there a reason for that ? Or is it just a hyperactive kid ?
In the fourth story ,there is a thread connecting Joseph Varughese.It begins to get scary. Do such things happen ? Its like being on the edge.The next story scared me even more.It has some eerie effect to it.
And so on....the 14 stories weave a magic .It never feels that each chapter is penned by a different author.The themes are so varying & yet fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.There is murder,rebirth,terrorism,love affairs, super naturalism ,etal !
There will be sequels to this novel as some stories seem to end though the readers would want them to continue further.
The first story is about Sudip & how he falls for Megha .They marry & then begin the revealations.It unfolds like a marriage going wrong .Do they divorce or separate ? What about the child ? What is the fault of the child ? Who is at fault ?
The second story is about James or is it Joseph Varughese? How are they connected ? Is it about re birth or someone is playing tricks ?
The third story is about Siya & her family.Her son never seems to sit still.He is restless. Is there a reason for that ? Or is it just a hyperactive kid ?
In the fourth story ,there is a thread connecting Joseph Varughese.It begins to get scary. Do such things happen ? Its like being on the edge.The next story scared me even more.It has some eerie effect to it.
And so on....the 14 stories weave a magic .It never feels that each chapter is penned by a different author.The themes are so varying & yet fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.There is murder,rebirth,terrorism,love affairs, super naturalism ,etal !
There will be sequels to this novel as some stories seem to end though the readers would want them to continue further.
Crossed
&Knotted
India's
First Composite Novel
The
Blurb
Crossed & Knotted is India’s
first Composite Novel, a book written by fourteen authors in close collaboration with each other. The
chapters, each a story in itself, are knotted with one another through characters, events, settings and
emotions. The result is a read that criss-crosses through a multitude of emotions bringing out deep
rooted human desires. They narrate tales of love and betrayal, suspense and mystery, courage and
dilemma, along with hope and resilience. Read it for a taste so tantalizing, that your mind will surely be
craving for more!
Buy @
Watch
It
ABOUT THE
EDITOR
Sutapa Basu is an Honours scholar from Santiniketan and
holds a Masters degree in English Literature. Her professional career has seen her as a teacher, editor,
and publisher. She has worked with renowned international publishing houses like Oxford University
Press and Encyclopaedia Britannica. In the last five years of her professional career, she has launched
111 educational titles, 33 CDs and digital products, a language lab and a website. She has also developed
and edited over 450 books over the last thirteen years.
ABOUT THE
PUBLISHER : READOMANIA
India has traditionally been the land of storytellers and a lot
of us have an inherent skill of creating good plots, stories and narrations. With a little encouragement
and support, many more authors can be widely read. This is the essence of Readomania-an initiative
that nurtures emerging stars of the literary world.
Readomania is an online content discovery platform that
brings to life a whole new literary world, with stories, authors, books and a lot more. We also have a
publishing house that takes the best of Readomania from the online format to print editions and
launches debut authors. Our focus is to bring to the market, new authors and novel concepts, a
composite novel being one of them. Our previous book, Chronicles of Urban Nomads, a collection of
short stories, was also an experimental publication.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Readomania is
the talent hunt in fiction that goes a step beyond, nurtures talent and showcases it to the world, in the
process, creating a powerhouse of content.
Our website also has a lot in store for the reader. Since the
content is edited and curated, by a strong team of editors, readers get quality reads on a platter. The
variety on Readomania is impressively vast; we have romance, emotions, thrills, travel, humour and
drama.
Accessing Readomania makes for a perfect break of fifteen
minutes from your daily grind. The website was launched in January, 2014 and is already very popular
with about 3500 registered users, of which 300 members are active contributors and authors. The site
also boasts of 800 online publications and more than three lakh page views till date.
You can stalk
Readomania @
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