Monthly Archives: November 2024

Poetry Book Review: Listen To The Thorn Birds by Pratibha Panghal

It is believed that a poem must consist lines that rhyme with each other. However, this is a misconception. It is absolutely fine to write a poem in a free-flowing form without the lines rhyming anywhere.

The poetry set of debutant poet Pratibha Panghal in her book Listen To The Thorn Birds has a number of poems where none of the lines rhyme but they easily succeed in generating a poetic effect. In fact, most of them poems appear like prose paragraphs but they are written in a completely poetic manner.

Listen To The Thorn Birds largely consists of poems that reflect the pain and heartbreak a person goes through. The poet has achieved this by using direct language and not beating around the bush. Despite a majority of poems expressing pain or sadness, they are written in such a poetic way that you end by being impressed by the use of words instead of being depressed. This, however, doesn’t mean that you don’t feel the poet’s pain.

Some of the most impressive poems from the book include, The Magician And The Children, A Heart With Holes, Albatross, Rains, Palm Reading, She Walks The Tight Rope, On Ageing and Vaccine For Violence.

Another positive aspect about the book is that the poet has used simple, everyday words and sentences to express herself. There is no use of elite English that only a small percentage of Indians understand. But despite the simplicity, the text is rich. In other words, a good balance has been maintained between simplicity and richness.

But Listen To The Thorn Birds is not all about the personal pain. Panghal has also penned a few poems that speak about environmental degradation and destroying of nature in the name of development. A few of them like Elephant Woes and Water also speak about her love and concern for animals. An additional feature of the book are the beautiful paintings and sketches that enhance the words.

Although there is no major negative point in the book, one could have hoped to find at least a few poems that displayed happiness.

Overall: Listen To The Thorn Birds succeeds in moving you.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Author: Pratibha Panghal

Publisher: Bluerose Publishers

Number of pages: 99

Also read: Book Review: Razor Sharp – Ashwin Sanghi dwells into the serial killer zone

All We Imagine As Light review: Poignant portrayal of life in a metro for the not-so-privileged

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Mumbai has not only been one of the most featured cities in Indian films but it is also explored as a subject over the decades. Many a times, the dark underbelly of the city is brought to light. Filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s worldwide acclaimed feature film debut All We Imagine As Light (Malayalam along with some usage of Hindi and Marathi) also shows the bitter side of Mumbai. But it, for a change, doesn’t feature the criminal side of the city in any way.

Kapadia has captured Mumbai in a different manner. Almost the entire portion taking place in Mumbai is shot at night and that too during monsoon rains. No, the rain is not romanticized in the film. It is, instead, shown as a hurdle to the lower middle-class of Mumbai.

Along with that, the city is shown suffering from a cramped space. So, we see both the interiors and exteriors filled with people with hardly any sequence showing a character or two in a space that is even remotely empty. At the same time, the characters too are somehow struggling to find a space of their own in this city, both mentally and physically.

Prabha (Kani Kusruti), a Malayali from Kerala, works as a senior nurse in a hospital and stays in a small space with her junior Anu (Divya Prabha), who hails from the same state. Prabha got married to a man without even knowing him and he soon migrated to Germany.

Anu, a carefree young girl, is in a relationship with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon). She knows that her parents would never agree for their marriage as he is a Muslim. The couple is always in search of some space to spend time together. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), who cooks in the same hospital and hails from Ratnagiri, is struggling to save her little house from a powerful builder.

The above story about two migrants and one semi-migrant isn’t told in a conventional fashion at all. In fact, the film is more about a realistic passing glimpse into their lives with the city being present in most of the film’s duration. The conversations are real but at the same time interesting and, at times, hilarious. The film indicates that the chaos in the city is of the same nature as in the hearts of the characters.

Kapadia has succeeded in displaying her talent in capturing raw reality of Mumbai and the three protagonists. At times, this is visible in small instances, like Prabha hugging the pressure cooker sent by her husband. The topic of religion between Prabha and Shiaz is dealt in a very subtle manner. This part of the film somehow takes a stand against the theories of ‘Love Jihad’, without spelling it out whatsoever.

The three main actors, whose choices have been apt, don’t seem to be acting. Hence, it’s impossible to choose the best of all. Kani Kusruti expresses the pain of loneliness without saying much. Divya Prabha succeeds in being bold and at the same time innocent. Chhaya Kadam naturally switches between helplessness and toughness. Hridhu Haroon makes good of whatever opportunity he gets.

The technical aspects like cinematography and editing also play a major role in keeping the narrative realistic. The background score is used rarely and this works in the film’s favour.

Ideally, the subject and its treatment didn’t deserve a runtime of 118 minutes. It could have been shorter and still made an impact. The back story of Prabha about her husband leaving for Germany needed more clarity, especially considering that he sent that modern pressure cooker to her all the way from there.

Overall: All We Imagine As Light is a poignant portrayal of the lower middle-class of Mumbai through the lives of three women with different personalities and life stories. The film has achieved glory internationally and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Director: Payal Kapadia

Producer: Thomas Hakim and Julien Graff

Writer: Payal Kapadia

Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon

Also read: Indi(r)a’s Emergency review: Shows the period’s relevance today

Singham Again review: Time-pass family action film despite some hiccups

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Rohit Shetty’s cop sagas started with the brilliant Singham (2011). It was obvious for him to bring out a sequel to it. But Singham Returns (2014) turned out to be just an average fare. His latest and third outing in the series, Singham Again, is better than the 2014 film. Hence, it keeps alive his Cop Universe, which also contains the enjoyable Simmba (2018) and Sooryavanshi (2021).

In the pre-climax scene in Sooryvanshi, Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) vows to finish off the terrorist Omar Hafiz (Jackie Shroff), who is hiding in Kashmir. As fate would have it, Singham soon gets posted in Kashmir and during the start of Singham Again, he captures Omar in an operation. Omar warns Singham that he will have to deal with a new evil force.

Meanwhile, Singham’s wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is a part of India’s cultural ministry and is currently staging the Ram-Leela for nine days in a modern way for today’s youth. The new evil force mentioned by Omar is Danger Lanka (Arjun Kapoor), who has an eye on Avni. He carries out a mission to abduct her and takes her to Sri Lanka. There is nothing much known about Danger Lanka.

But this doesn’t soften up Singham as he promises to bring Avni back. He takes the help of IPS (Indian Police Service) officer Shakti Shetty (Deepika Padukone), ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Satya (Tiger Shroff), Inspector Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba (Ranveer Singh) and Anti-Terror squad officer Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar).

Singham Again doesn’t start on a promising note. The all-important entry of Singham is lukewarm. On top of that, we have already seen it twice in the trailer and the title song released before the film. But what puzzles you the most is the capturing of Omar Hafiz. It seems as if the terrorist gives himself away to Singham while the latter walks away with the credit and accolades. It is also easy to notice the body double of Shroff in that sequence where his character carries out bike stunts.

However, the film starts getting better once the abduction angle comes in and we are introduced to different characters. The entry of Tiger Shroff is the best of all because it happens when you least expect it. He has also performed better than his recent outings as he has underplayed himself.

The story of Ramayana in the Ram Leela running parallel to Singham’s story is impressively done and plays a major role in you rooting for the good guys. The action and stunts, which are the vital elements in Shetty’s Cop Universe, succeed in providing the desired effect on the big screen. But the film also successfully keeps the humour quotient high, especially during a few meta references.

However, Singham Again ends just like a regular larger-than-life action film. Although there is a feel-good factor in the end, it lacks something special. After witnessing the finale of few other big scale action films of the recent past, you expect more, especially when an ensemble action cast has assembled.

Singham Again is also hampered by the decision of the makers to show way too much in its lengthy trailer, which kills the surprise factor. This had impacted Sooryavanshi too. It impacts this film even more.

Apart from the title track, there are no songs here. But the new title track isn’t as effective as the original one and you also miss its signature tune in the background score. Girish Kant and Raza Hussain Mehta’s camerawork fits the bill.

Coming to the rest of the cast, Ajay Devgn succeeds in commanding respect as a revered figure. Kareena Kapoor Khan provides a satisfactory act. Ranveer Singh appears over-the-top at the start but he makes up for it later on with a hilarious performance. Deepika Padukone, as Shakti Shetty aka Lady Singham, is decent. Akshay Kumar is likeable in a cameo.

But the surprise factor is Arjun Kapoor. He has reinvented himself as a ruthless villain. Jackie Shroff, as the other bad guy, fits his character well. Dayanand Shetty, in a cameo, continues doing what he had done in the TV show CID.

Overall: Despite some hiccups, Singham Again succeeds in being a time-pass family action entertainer for the festive season. The tiny cameo of Salman Khan in the end and the announcement of the next film in the franchise titled Chulbul Singham also helps its cause.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Rohit Shetty

Producers: Reliance Entertainment, Jio Studios, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Devgn Films and Cinergy

Writers: Kshitij Patwardhan, Yunus Sajawal, Sandeep Saket, Anusha Nandakumar, Abhijeet Khuman, Shantanu Srivastava, Rohit Shetty, Milap Zaveri and Vidhi Ghodgaonkar

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar

Also read: Indi(r)a’s Emergency review: Shows the period’s relevance today