Kapoor & Sons :- Family Drama at its best

There are two kinds of audience that bought the ticket for this movie. 1st – The majority of the audience who were really intrigued by the “(marketed) lead” trio , and  2nd – the minority which chose this movie because they had seen how an Indian director can  legitimately give a Hollywood movie a golden touch. And  by the end of the movie, the former agrees with the latter and claps their way out while the screen flashes (with pride), the name of Shakun Batra.

A scene from Kapoor & Sons

Ekk Main Aur Ekk Tu changed, or maybe opened the way a movie is adapted. It’s not always about increasing the figures in one’s bank account, but at times, to elevate the standard. Shakun is a modern architect of an old-age art called unspoken emotions in an oh-so-casual situation. Thank you Karan Johar for giving the industry a gem! Going straight to the pitch from the pavilion (blame the #WT20 fever), Kapoor & Sons is neither an amazing movie nor an experience. It’s a mirror, a special kind of it that strips one down before their own eyes, that dilutes the fabric one is forcing upon the body to hide the scars, the imperfections within. It also marks the moves which  one performs to perfectly fit into the Happy frame. At the end, it showcases the flaws, the flaws of how abominable an actor is , and how desperate one can get !

If the paragraph given above doesn’t make sense, let’s just say that Kapoor & Son revives the old Bollywood recipe of family + emotions in such an adaptable manner, you’ll start missing the flavor in your food you never had actually.

The movie is like a theatre that simply (read transparently) decapitates or conveys what it wants to. One needs to be real, more than what one calls being intellectual. For instance, there’s a scene where Fawad & Siddharth sleep on their bed, together & drunk. In this scene, more than their dialogues (though important), what makes more sense is the atmosphere created. The surrounding speaks for itself. The ones who stay out, may even shed tears, feeling the urge to sleep in their own beds far back at home, in which they grew up. It is then that it dawns upon you, that cool tags like wanderlust and exploration are so vague when compared to home & family put together. What home means and what homesickness is, is expressed so well that one gets goosebumps. Happiness lies within us and we suffer because we force ourselves to move out to find it.

Veteran actor Ratna Pathak at a press conference

Talking about the actors, method acting veterans Ratna Pathak & Rajat Kapoor have made a habit to outstand every act they are signed for. What is commendable here is Rishi Kapoor’s performance. While the phrase “getting better with age, just like wine!” suits him, it simultaneously re-defines the phrase too. When wine is preserved, it gets better and develops a natural taste . Neither preservatives nor any personal demand comes in. Rather any person with a varied taste choice applauds while tasting it. This means that a wine doesn’t change it’s taste to please or woo someone, it’s done automatically. That’s what Rishi Kapoor is, simply, & naturally brilliant. The trio (Alia, Fawad & Siddharth) is good, yeah, they are good. It even proves that the script need not be drafted in the volume of the cheque drafted for the same concern.

Watch Kapoor & Sons to make the child, parent, sibling or whatsoever wake up. It’s brilliant, so simply brilliant, you don’t need a hi-fi vocabulary for it.

The original Kapoor!

While watching the promos of KAPOOR & SONS SINCE 1921, we all thought that Mr. Rishi Kapoor is there in the role of a dadu, but that role is merely a supportive one since the “trio” which had been doing most of the promotions seemed to overweigh the rest. But if you’ve watched the movie, or will do in future, it’s pretty challenging to say that after you walk back, nothing will hold on to you more than the character of “Dadu” does.

In a cast that has the fanciest of names like Fawad, Alia & Siddharth, accompanied with Method Actor veterans like Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah, the guy who stands out the most is the legendary veteran Mr. Rishi Kapoor.

The phrase “Getting better with age, just like wine” just strikes you and just  like wine, Chintu ji keeps his charm intact. He just sails into the horizon of excellence that will never end. Just like his nature, which comes out beautifully to fit into the character of such an adorable grandpa. His monologue will make you cry like his very own grandchildren. He’s a Kapoor, a legend who will shine more than anyone else can even light up. What all you need is eyes, to capture it.

Thank you, for Making us kid again. Thank you for teaching us the importance of a family.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR :-

Ketan Sharma is an enthusiastic blogger, an avid reader and a market researchist. This die-hard movie buff and a Manchester United fan is a student of St.Xaviers's college, Kolkata.

Questioning the social stigma!

                   
This morning my friend Rahul came upto me and told me that he is fed up and he would either leave home or do something more drastic just to make everything stop.

Effeminate actor Penn Bradgley with Uma Thurman

So let’s just rewind back a little to get to how exactly we reached this point. Rahul is a regular Indian teenager. A part of a reputed college, he is from a well to do family. On the surface everything looks well, but there is something ‘terribly wrong’ with Rahul. Something that somehow sets him apart from the rest of his peers.  Rahul happens to be effeminate in nature. He is what most of his friends call extremely “girly” or even “gay”.

What we fail to understand most of the time that there is a vast difference between being “gay” and being effeminate. Society has set certain norms that have to be religiously followed by both men and women. Men are seen as superior beings who are supposed to be strong, power hungry, dominating and often a bit of an ass. A man is not supposed to have feelings or sensitivity and God forbid if he does have these he is supposed to conceal it as though it were his worst secret. A man isn’t supposed to express his emotions, that is the girls area of expertise. He should not be concerned with appearances . He has to be seen as the master of the universe.


To sum it all up, men are expected to be what we call "MACHO". If the “man” isn’t any one of these things he is considered to be effeminate or female like. He is what the society considers a ‘sub-man’and more often than not ‘gay’. What people fail to take into consideration is the fact that there is a vast difference between being effeminate and being homosexual. An effeminate male is a person who has certain feminine characteristics but whose being homosexual is absolutely subjective. Every effeminate male is not  homosexual and every homosexual male is not effeminate. It is important that we keep that in mind.

Gender norms are making life stifling for both males and females and it is necessary that we speak up against this instead of surrendering meekly and dying a thousand deaths everyday pretending to be something that we are not. This goes out to all the men out there.  It is not a crime to have feelings. It is okay to care. You need to speak up for yourself and not bother if society thinks it is not ‘manly’ enough to voice your grievances.

The youth of today have the opportunity to make their voices heard and we have to make the most of it so that the next generation does not suffer because of the mindset of society like we did. Men are equally abhorrent and scared of today's society just as women are! Don't forget that!



About the Author :- 



Valentina Notts is a student of English literature hailing from St.Xavier's college, Kolkata. Her interests lie in books, movies and working for a society whose bedrock would be constituted by equality! 

Selfies, Selfies Everywhere!

A selfie is fast becoming a sign of a self-centered person.  

 It seems that Gen Y can think of only “I, Me & Myself”. Oh! Come on, you know how pretty you are. So why care about how many “Likes” you get for a particular selfie?  But then the next thought that comes to my mind is scowling faces and sneers. This is because if we don’t click a superb selfie of the pretty face and post it and get the highest number of likes, how will we make our other friends jealous? 

“LET OTHERS BURN” is rapidly turning into our generation’s motto. But wait aren’t we missing something? Can’t we for once change the camera mode and close the shutter to capture the smiling face of an underprivileged child eating candy floss? Can’t we make other people burn at our awe-inspiring heart? No we can’t. Until we show people how much narcissistic we are, we don’t belong to this “AWESOME ME” generation. 

 The selfie culture is fast becoming an integral part of teenage life. As a result of this, sweet happy memories are getting lost. No one thinks of turning the pages of an old album to see what their old Labrador looked like when it was a puppy. Moreover, many talents are getting lost too. Earlier it used to be free time equals to library time or, drawing time but these days it has come down to free time equals to “Snapchat” time or “ Instagram” time. I know that quite many of my readers will be ranking me as primordial but I think that these little moments of bliss are fugacious. Just spare them a minute and keep them safe. The selfies and the selfie mode will always be there.  

All I want to say is, click Selfies but don’t turn it into an OBSESSION!

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rupkatha Mitra.is a student of Calcutta Girls' High School, studying in the 10th standard. Reading books, day-dreaming, speaking her mind through her writings are the only things she enjoys doing. She is also the youngest writer for EXPRESS MAGAZINE.

Never Judge a Book By It’s Movie

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It’s amazing to think that all the movies circling around us are visual representations of the written world, be it a script or a book. In the beginning there was only the word of mouth which gradually evolved into the magical realm of books and from there emerged the world of cinema. First void of color and sound, these days movies have crossed all barriers regarding affecting the senses. Movies have evolved to such extremes that they do not require live settings anymore. Who wants to worry about finding a right spot with a right environment to shoot in when all you need is a green screen and half a dozen computers?

A SCENE FROM "300"

  You know what the best movie of a book is? The movie which plays inside your brain when the magic of wordplay washes over you as your eyes trail sentence after sentence engulfing the book. The most producers and directors try to do is make a palatable version of the book. But in most of the cases they fail miserably (yes I’m looking at you Feluda and Chaander Pahar). A family with legends like Upendrakishore, Sukumar and Satyajit, Sandip Ray quite lacks the secrets of his ancestors to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The Feluda series has taken a plummet after the Maestro himself handed over the batton to his son. Keeping aside Sandip Ray's meticulous eye for detailing, his take on Feluda is just a vague rendering of the sleuth into the 21st century! Internet has curbed Shidhu Jetha's charm and more or less, his films are just a tedious exhortations of the stories with paltry improvisations!

The last take on the "Feluda" series

BBC’s ‘SHERLOCK’ is the modernized tale of an even older time period, but they pulled it off spectacularly, so why can’t we?  And Tolly actor Dev’s take on Chaander Pahar only played in the halls because people resisted the urge to walk out on a movie they paid for. Out of respect for the Late Bibhutibhuson Bandopadhay I refuse to breach the many MANY faults of this movie and deviations from the book.

The depiction of "Bunip" was one of the biggest failures of "Chander Pahar"

 Now let us turn to Hollywood, specifically The Movie Trilogy of One of the greatest fictional works of literature, Lord of The Rings. If the book left you speechless get set for the 12 hour+ trilogy to blow your socks off. Director Peter Jackson cut off parts of the book but we aren’t complaining because lets face it, the movies ARE FREAKING AWESOME! Not only do the characters come straight out of the books, the locations, cities, battles and imaginary creatures are all portrayed with such brilliance it leaves the audience spellbound. 17 Oscars is no child's play.

 But it all went downhill when he decided to create a trilogy of the prequel book “ The Hobbit”. When a 300 page book is made into 3 movies of 2 hours you can be quite sure that the book was thrown out of the window when the scripts were written. Many many plot points, characters and events were added, including  a love interest between an elf and a dwarf. Of course this is not the biggest disappointment in terms of a magical world turned into a movie. That mantle belongs to “Eragon” only. Get ready to watch the complete demolition of the magical world of Alagaesia created in Christopher Paolini’s 4 part book series “The Inheritance Cycle”. It can be said that it was the Chaander Pahar of Hollywood.

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone

 But there are some mind numbing which sometimes, not ashamed to admit it, put the books on the back burner. I'm talking of course of movies like The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, Watchmen, The Great Gatsby. These movies are perfect doppelgangers of their leafy cousins and maybe even a tad more enticing. Now that I think about it the scales may weigh slightly higher in the good movies side than the bad. Huh, I wonder if this is the first article which disapproves of it’s heading within it?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR :- 

Swagato Basak is a first year B.com student from Bhawanipore Education Society college.When he is not poring over his huge pile of books he prefers to read,write and photograph the grand event called Life. Also read :-

1. Ready! Steady! Full throttle.

2. Kolkata : Coming of Age