IMHO – In My Honest Opinion (March 2013)

So Many Fun things, So Little Time! Here’s The Scoop

Mean Girls
Mean Girls redefined high school films in Hollywood. Written by comedienne Tina Fey of 30 Rock fame, it follows the triumph and decline of Cady Heron, a new high school student who inadvertantly becomes friends with the meanest and most loathed (but most awed) group of girls in school called The Plastics. She intends to be a spy and spill their secrets, but things go awry when she is caught in the crossfire and exposed.

 

 

 

 

Persuasion
Persuasion is yet another of Jane Austen’s woman-centric novels. Anne, the heroine, is 27-yearsold and unmarried because in her past, the man she was in love with had to be turned away because he was poor and from an average family. She bumps into him now and finds that he is rich, successful and is looking for a wife – any woman who is not Anne. How Anne deals with this while battling family prejudices forms the plot.

 

 

 

 

 

That Don’t Impress Me Much
Shania Twain isn’t ashamed of expressing her disdain for men with cars, Brad Pittlike looks and rocket scientist brains who have no sense of what really impresses a woman. The perfect anthem for girls who aren’t afraid of being single.

 

 

 

Sridhar/Thayil – STD
We’re a little late with this review, but it doesn’t matter; this music is going to be relevent for a long time. You would be hardpressed to find an artist in the Indian independent music scene who draws music from a variety of genres more than duo Sridhar/Thayil. Suman Sridhar, the Indian-classical trained vocalist, switches effortlessly from harmonising aalaaps to crooning the blues to belting out jazz vocalisations. Jeet Thayil, noted poet and author, mans the guitars, and his influence is evident in the lyrics – “Gotta hit an E, and a couple lines of krunk/Got three petis and a bellyful of spunk” in This Be The Beat makes for delightful wordplay. Other highlights are Here In The Morning, Punk Bhajan and City of Sisters. That said, STD is not an easy listening album. You have to sit down and let it percolate you.

Stash It
Macklemore’s Thrift Shop is bizzare but catchy

Trash It
Every song from Mere Dad ki Maruti

Watch It
Homeland: cast, script, story, thrills – all addictive

Miss It
Even nastiness has an expiry date and Roadies is so far expired, it now smells

Gulaab Gang
Starring: Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Mahie Gill
Inspired by Gulaab Gang, a real-life 20,000 members-strong women-only group in Uttar Pradesh that fights social injustices against women, this film releases on Women’s Day. With its talented cast, we hope the film does justice to the bravehearts who work tirelessly to uplift women.

 

 

 

 

 

Identity Thief
Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho, Amanda Peet Bateman plays Sandy Patterson, a financial bureaucrat whose identity is stolen by a woman named Diana (McCarthy). Patterson drives across the country to catch Diana, but is accosted on the way by several crooks who want revenge for the schemes that Diana has pulled on them. We’re eager to watch this for the laughts.

 

 

 

 

Himmatwala
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tamannaah, Paresh Rawal A typical Bollywood potboiler with a terrorising dacoit, a wronged widow, a prodigal son sworn on exacting revenge and the dacoit’s daughter who falls for the hero. It’s a remake of the 1983 Himmatwala and we hope this action comedy is an improvement on the cheesy original.

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Fire Interview with ZAC O’YEAH – Rs. 550

Zac O’Yeah’s Mr Majestic: The Tout of Bengaluru, though sold as crime fiction, is really a rib-tickling detective story that seems more like a parody of typical crime fiction. If you’ve wondered what the underbelly of Bangalore’s crime scene is like, or whether Bangalore has a crime scene at all, this book is for you. The protagonist is Hari Majestic, a small-time tout in Bangalore who is both superstitious and concerned for his karma, as well as intent on earning a living from fleecing people. He is hired to locate a free-spirited and wannabe film star, Madhuri, who fell for one of Hari’s schemes previously and disappeared in Bangalore. Hari turns hero as he accosts a variety of seedier and more dangerous criminals in his search for Madhuri. Mr Majestic is a delightful read and O’Yeah’s writing is fluid, funny and engaging without being pulpy or unnecessarily sensational.

 

You seem to have a lot of insider information on the ways a tout goes about his business. First-hand experience or just plain, good research? 
As a frequent traveller I inevitably meet more than my fair share of touts, and also small-time conmen and other people who try to make a quick buck on travellers, so one begins to think about their existence. They’re an integral part of the tourist experience and sometimes they can be quite useful, as in, if you come to a city and the hotels are full, a tout will know where there are vacant rooms. But this is a novel and Mr Majestic is a completely fictional character; if there happens to be somebody like him in real life I hope that person will mend his ways or bad things may happen!

If Mr Majestic was made into a film and you were given the casting job, who would you cast?
This is a really hard question, but I think Hari Majestic himself should be played by a newcomer or a relatively young actor. My favourite actors in Kannada cinema are Upendra and Darshan, both of them have done some great action packed movies, and it’d be lovely to have people like them doing the major parts. I also admire Vijay Raaz, he has great looks and is good at playing very complex characters. I’ve already spoken to Arfi Lamba, who played a role in Slumdog Millionaire, and when I mentioned this book he was interested in acting in a Mr Majestic movie. As for the female parts I don’t really know… I like Urmila Matondkar, she’s a brilliant actress and has played some fantastic roles, maybe she could be the lady police inspector?

You write in both Swedish and English; do you have more proclivity for one language?
More and more I feel I am beginning to transform into an Indian writer writing in English, and when I meet foreign writers, I sometimes find them a bit difficult to relate to. My wife is an Indian writer, Anjum Hasan, and I think she has influenced me a lot in this. One of the reasons I started writing in English was because I wanted her to be able to read my stuff.

Read the entire interview online at www.youthincmag.com

 

Volume 2 Issue 9