In My Honest Opinion – June 2013

DOCTOR WHO
This phenomenal British sci-fi TV show is the longest running of its kind. Begun in 1963, it follows the adventures of an alien time-traveller called The Doctor in his timetravelling spaceship called the TARDIS (disguised as a blue police box) with his human travel companion. The original series went off air in 1989 owing to lack of viewers, but the modern revival jumpstarted in 2005 became an instant hit. Even those who aren’t fans of sci-fi will be instantly drawn to the show for its action, creative plots, humour and subtle romance.

DANIEL X: ALIEN HUNTER
After being forced to watch his parents being brutally killed, Daniel’s future is plunged into uncertainty. He takes up his father’s profession and becomes an alien hunter. He goes through the ‘wanted’ list of maniacal aliens left behind by his father for leads and kills them one by one. Ultimately, he wants his missions to lead him to his parents’ murderer so that he may extact revenge. This book is the graphic novelisation of a series of works on Daniel X by writer James Patterson.

 

 

 

ALIENS EXIST
Do aliens exist or are they imaginary? Blink-182 tries to convince the world of the existence of extraterrestrial neighbours with this song. Listen closely to the lyrics; they’re simple enough to follow, but they’re also so imaginative that you might just be led to an unexplored alien turf without realising it.

 

 

 

MAN OF STEEL
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe In this Superman reboot written by Christopher Nolan, the origin of the superhero is slightly reimagined to leave a more open end for the Justice League. Clark Kent (Cavill) is a young journalist who realises he has unimaginable powers and uses them to defend Earth from an insidious evil.

 

 

 

 

 

GHANCHAKKAR
Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan Sanju (Hashmi), a master safe cracker decides he wants to quit the world of crime. He successfully pulls off one last bank heist with two accomplices. Three months later when they return to collect their share of the loot from Sanju, they find that Sanju has been in an accident and doesn’t remember where he hid the money.

 

 

 

 

 

THE INTERNSHIP
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson
Two salesmen Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) find that their careers have been upended by the digital age. To prove that they are not obsolete, they take up a coveted internship at Google. But they find they must compete with the most tech-savvy, elite genius students to prove themselves.

 

 

 

 

TOUGH ON TOBACCO – BIG BIG JOKE
Four years after launching their debut album, veteran indie pop-rock-reggae band Tough On Tobacco have finally launched their second album. The album titled Big Big Joke is a neglected child of over three years during which time the band members focused on their individual and side projects. The result, unfortunately, is that the album material sounds terribly outdated as compared to other contemporary acts. While parts of their music have progressed towards heavy alternative rock, most of it is their usual pop and reggae (noticable in Yahweh, Nice and Ordinary). Decent songs on the album are Blow Yourself Away and the title track Big Big Joke. The album artwork and title are nods to the band’s humorous branding.Alas, the songs could have done with some improvement.

STASH IT
Step by Vampire Weekend is soft, quirky and deserves a replay

TRASH IT
Jeene Laga Hun is predictable in all respects; worth ignoring

WATCH IT
MasterChef: The Professional promises great drama and food

MISS IT
Apprentice Asia is not the same without Donald Trump

QUICK FIRE INTERVIEW WITH RAJORSHI CHAKRABORTI

Rajorshi Chakraborti’s latest work – a collection of short stories and novellas titled Lost Men – is like an ode to bewildered characters stuck in sometimes absurd, sometimes wretched situations. All stories are narrated by male protagonists faced by life-altering situations – the latter being oneof the constant themes in Chakraborti’s works. The effectively interwoven element of mystery manages to grip the reader’s attention. However, in places, the plots do seem scattered, due to the inherent nature of short stories. Hence, these anecdotes need to be taken one at a time, as they tend to be overwhelming so much, so that the reader tends to lose his way halfway through the book.
It’s a good read if you can stomach fast-paced narratives and a whirlwind of activity with enough patience and attention.

All your previous books have been novels. How different was it, working on the short stories in ‘Lost Men’?
It was liberating, in a way, to know that I was only trying to provide one short glimpse at a time into a character and his or her world. Of course, I wanted to make that glimpse as interesting and mysterious as possible, but it is different to the planning and level of absorption that a novel demands.

Although being a work of fiction, is any story from ‘Lost Men’ inspired by a real-life incident?
Some of the stories do explore a road-not-taken scenario, where I try and imagine what might have happened if a character follows a series of paths that I didn’t follow, or an important moment in life had turned out slightly differently. What if I missed my plane to come abroad the first time as a student, because I simply could not make myself get to the airport? What if I had been expelled from school at a critical moment for an honest mistake? Believe me, more than once I did get close. Phew.

Not only in ‘Lost Men’, but also in your other novels, you have created situations involving paranoia, challenge, disaster, dark humour, uncertainty, etc. Any comments on this particular style of writing?
No, except to say that I like those adjectives as descriptions of my work. I guess what I’ve often tried to do is create stories in which my characters have to react when life around them is particularly challenging, when they are caught up in its full flow, and I like to show how this feels to them. Another feeling I’ve tried to evoke is that of characters who find their own lives to be quite mysterious, unfamiliar, strange. How did I get to this point following that path? So, yes, your words feel like appropriate descriptions, but I would add a couple of others to the list: adventure, mystery, surprise, even occasionally, joy. – Sindhu Mansukhani
Read the entire interview on www.youthincmag.com

 

Volume 2 Issue 12