Reflections

I stole some precious moments from you while you were here and made them mine. I created a memory with them. If Chaucer finds April the cruelest month, I would say December is the friendliest. It brought in visitors for me; from near and far. They brought back the precious years of growing up; from far away Germany to the quaint small town of Chengaroor in Kerala. Friends across boundaries and language and colour. . .  Friendships that felt its way through the innate innocence and warmth of being a child. From the old musty corridors of Little Flower LP School in Chengaroor, Kerala, was the first and much awaited visit that was on the cards. The date was just round the corner; December 11 th to be precise. I was meeting my childhood friend from class 2 after 34 years. Thanks to WhatsApp which brought us back together, we had already been in touch for around 6 months. We made the most of the reconnect established, albeit virtually. From the 2 nd standard classroom, way b...

An experimental venture at synching the media of cinema and theatre and of developing a play within the reel, Njaan from Ranjith Balakrishnan is an experience, very different from almost all his other movies. I got to watch it last Saturday at the Bangalore International Film Festival and if you were to ask me what’s best about the movie, I would say, the cast, hands down! The characters were chosen sensibly and chosen right. Subtlety is Ranjith’s hallmark expression and he does it sublimely. There are no power-packed dialogues, no far- too- colourful song and dance sequences or unrealistic stunts to indicate heights of emotions; instead, the magically subtle and sensual expressions that speak volumes.  Each one of the characters brought almost their whole selves on to the screen. Dulquar appeared a bit strained, at places, both in his act and in dialogue delivery, but otherwise was endearing and showed a lot of potential. A Prithvi Raj or a Fahad Fazil, would probably not h...