The Namesake

The Namesake directed by Mira Nair. I watched it today, because this was the only DVD i could lay my hands from the list i dutifully carried to the library.(Sigh, in this age of online streaming, i still rent DVD's from the lib).

If you are expecting pace in the lines of Monsoon Wedding, this is a let-down. The pace is real slow, almost qualifies for a documentary. When i read the book there were several parts that impressed me and some i did not care for. Somehow in the movie, the parts that are emphasized are the parts you do not remember from the book.

Kal Penn has given a good performance but we have seen so many ABCD's that we can't really appreciate his conflicts anymore. They are streo-typed and cliched. Tabu looks old and masculine. She does emote well but too lanky for the role. I would have preferred ... let me think..... cant think of any actresses in bollywood.. Can you?

Most of us who have travelled far and wide from our homelands have an inexplicable longing to get back and an intense desire to defend our country, traditions, cuisine and kinship. When children are born in the US to Indians, there seem to be a sea of change and the family is always raging a war. I was hoping The Namesake would bring out these aspects... but i guess it was lost in traslation!!!

The Lost Symbol - sooo lost!!!

The Lost Symbol goes on a fishing expedition and the city of choice is Washington D.C. Dan Brown's fascination with symbols and ancient mysteries were overwhelming in Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, but he is losing his touch.

The book starts with Robert Langdon being summoned for a lecture in D.C.Once he arrives the scene starts spiralling out of control. They are in search for Ancient Mysteries of the Masonic Order and a Lost Word. DUH???

Thats the expression that stays with you till you patiently plod through all 133 chapters amounting to 509 pages. The search is stereo-typed, the evil comes in weird forms and you dont really care whether they find what they are looking for.

If you thought stunts in Rajni movies defy gravity, Balakrishna running on the trainning is laughable, i encourage all directors and story writers to read Lost Symbol to discover new tactics and stunts that is fodder for upcoming movies. New ideas for Kollywood and Tollywood. But you have to read through all 509 pages.

I could almost imagine Robert Langdon being played by Tom Hanks and visualize most of the scenes in the book in a major motion picture in a couple of years, but this is a movie i would gladly skip. Why willingly undergo torture?

Nights in Rodanthe

"Happiness is that most young people seemed to think that those things lay somewhere in the future while most older people beleived that it lay in the past" - Chapter 15, Nights in Rodanthe, Nicholas Sparks.

When i started reading this book i felt myself thinking about Bridges of Madison County. While the latter is a masterpiece, the former is a bit amateurish. Also i can never understand how two people who spend about three days in all can find ever lasting, eternal love. It would take more time for me to trust a person, more time before beginning to open up about personal tragedies and definetly more time to fall in love... leave alone sharing the same bed. (Maybe am not one of those self confessed romantics afterall). The protagonists, however, seemed to field through these emotions and hold them dear for their rest of their life, in all but three days.

That said, the writing is brilliant. The author uses the right words and paints the picture of a women shattered by her divorce poignantly. The man who thought he was running for something, realises he is running away from something and wants to make amends with his son. The war he wages within himself is portrayed well and although we are not sure how he acheives this change, we begin to think he attained what he started after.

I'm not sure why the author introduced the character of a widowed husband trying to make a doctor understand what the loss of his patient has done to his life. No feelings evoked whatsoever.

If you are looking for a light read, pick up this book but its definetly not a romance on the likes of Francesca and Kincaid.