Book Review :The Madras Mangler

Usha Narayanan spins a thriller in her debut novel "The Madras Mangler ".Usha Narayanan is a jack of many trades.She was an English Teacher, creative director in advertising agencies,jingle writer,web editor,journalist,green volunteer ,head of copy right publishing in e publishing,etal.She has completed Masters in English Literature with a  gold medal.She has a diploma in creative writing from the Hawaii University as well.

The cover of her thriller shows a girl's face with hair  scattered all around.The eyes are closed .The cover is in black & white .Just like the snaps of old times before colour photographs became a rage.The title of the novel is printed in red towards the top of the cover.The bottom of the cover states the name of the author in white. The back cover of the book is greenish grey with a synposis of the novel towards the upper end.The back cover has faint images of a beaded necklace & some more scattered hair.

The printer is Jufic books.Paper quality is good.Chapters are short in length.There are fifty five chapters in the book of 280 pages.The author thanks all the people who made her debut novel a reality in Acknowledgements.There is a Prologue to the story, which sets the tone.

This is a story full of action & thrills.It is sets in a college in Chennai. Girls go missing from colleges.This is a tale of five girls.....Deepika,Kat, Lolita,Minx,Moti  studying at SS Padmaja College,Chennai.One of the five girls goes missing.No leads are available.

The deputy commissioner Reddy is eager to mingle with the press. Reddy expects girls to remain indoors so that they will remain unharmed. Vir,the NRI criminologist has a scientific approach to the missing girls problem.His Indian batchmate Bishnu has set up an enviable state of the art technology office for detection.Reddy is unimpressed & keeps shooting his mouth off.The girls have to fight on so many fronts....their parents,hooligans at the college,the khap like dictats of Reddy ,etc.

As the bodies of missing girls are found ,the city gets scared.There is a serial killer on the loose.Why is he targeting girls ? Why does he disfigure the girls ? The bodies are battered & barely recognisable.

Who is the killer ? Why has he started killing girls ? Is he trying to break some record in killing ? Do Reddy & police team unamsk the killer ? What about Vir & Bishnu  ? Are they able to rescue girls from the menace of the killer ?

The story is fast paced.It is so much rooted in the current scenario in our nation where girls & women fear for their safety in their homes & even outside.Molestation,ragging,rapes,eve teasing are so common place .It has humour too. Kat opines  that her mom thinks of the boys available for marriage is like a clearance sale ! Kat sarcastic remarks to boys about their evolution ( if any ).Girls like  the college for  freedom from their prying parents,possessive fiances & others gundas.Yet in college ,they encounter hooligans pretending to study,Principal making rules for the supposed safety of girls,etc.

The language is good.A glossary at the end of the book explains the Indian terms used in the novel.At a price of RS 195 /- this book is worth every page !

The author writes from the perspective of the woman .Her narrative makes it  very interesting & immensely readable.

I am thankful to Storizen for making this book available to me for review.

Film review : Sunsilk Real FM.

"Sunsilk Real FM " is a short film by Anurag Basu who directed the much acclaimed & awarded movie "Barfi " starring Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka. This short film is directed by Akarsh Khurana & stars newcomers & some veterans like Benjamin Gilani & Akash Khurana.

The movie is the story  of a girl , whose father is running an FM radio station.The staff is demanding a raise & revenues are falling.His staff desert him.He lands in hospital as he is too stressed out.His daughter takes upon herself  to run the show at the studios.She ropes in her friends as well.They are all novices in this work of running  a radio station .Are they able to pull it off ? What are the obstacles they encounter ? Are they able to overcome  any of them ? How do they manage  or do they trip and fall ? And do they get up & start or just  hang up The broadcast is on the 15th August & they want to do something different...the by line of  generation next ! What do they do ? Do they do anything different or is it old wine in a new bottle ? And do listeners start plugging in ?

This is a feel good movie.It has all-action ,drama,emotion & good music.It tries to weave a story about music from different states of India.It does succeed in conveying  that Indian music is different for  each state & is still similar in some ways.Unity in diversity !



The film has doses  of humour & is fast paced.That makes it interesting.It has good music throughout .The songs from the numerous states of India arouse our curiosity & goad us to explore these genres of music further.Many of us  including yours truly ,did not know that each Indian state has its unique music.The actors have all acted well...the fresh faced young ones as also the veterans.Watching Benjamin Gilani & Akash Khurana is a delight ! They are such fine actors ! They make acting  seem effortless.

It has some flaws  as well.A casual remark sounding like   "Ghar mein auratein khali baithi rahti hain  " is the one which homemakers are tired of listening.A homemaker never retires unlike others & yet ,such statements  enforces stereotypes of housewives whiling away their time at home.Their contribution is priceless ! In the movie, many people come & say that they are friends of the protoganist's  brother who is studying abroad .The movie is about what happens in a single day.How did the  brother who is supposedly in London  contact his friends when the time zones are different here & there ? Maybe, through the social media.Too far fetched.

This short film is basically the road to self discovery by the girl &  her friends.By the end of the day ,it is clear that all have discovered things that they never knew they possessed ! It is a movie, about growing up & taking responsibility & how ! In short ,the plus points override the flaws.It makes us feel good as we become one with the heroine &  her chums .Superbly engrossing fare ! Thankful  to IndiBlogger for arranging for the exclusive screening of the short film for bloggers !

The film is  is inspired by Sunsilk.The heroine  & her gang of friends have hair which is not the same for all.Sunsilk natural recharge shampoo works for all the hair types & makes it strong ! Be it curly,straight,wavy or anything else,Sunsilk natural recharge shampoo works on hair roots as it contains  ginseng root & oil.So hair cleansed with Sunsilk natural recharge shampoo is five times stronger & has fuller volume ! The Sunslik natural conditioner makes hair smoother & gives it the best of shines ever ! So for stronger hair ,go for Sunslik natural recharge shampoo  & conditioner !