Raaz - the Mystery Continues

It was a long time that I watched a Mahes Bhatt production and was the 1st movie featuring Emran Hashmi that I managed to sit through the whole 16 reels. It was a Mohit Suri directed film and though at places it bears a strong resemblance to Hollywood movies especially the 'The Omen', but as a whole the fear factor was clearly very high and Ram Gopal Verma may take a few tips for the making of a horror movie. Specially the use of sound and visual angles deserves quite a round of applause. Though the individual acting is quite ordinary but the effects used to create the horror scene seems to be a success, at least to me. The plot is also very ordinary and I felt that the finishing to be supersimplified and also the tension had been marred at places by some unwanted songs. But this only shows the skill of the director who has created suspense and thrill that makes up for the loose threads and once again a praise for the director and crew for the audio and visual effects seems obvious. As to the detail it has not been taken proper care of as in the scene where the possessed girl creates a furious storm that blows away cars seems to have no effect on the lone watcher.
The main story revolves round a model Nandita, engaged to be married to Yash, an atheist who makes a blockbuster serial fighting against superstitions. Their life was more or less smooth sailing till Nandita was confronted by Prithvi, a freelance painter, who insists her that some evil is to befall her. He tells of his visions of Nandita which he depicts through his painting that reveals some future events portraying sadness and pain in the part of the subject. At first Nandita places a deaf ear to his pleas, but some unnerving incidents and horrific experiences convinces her to the truth in Prithvi's words and she herself gets possessed by a spirit during these events. Meanwhile the movie pans through two curious suicide cases of a priest in a temple in the village of Kalindi and one David Cooper, a CEO of a pesticide firm in the same village. The suicide note, etched out in blood, by the later matches with the shouts utterred by Nandini while possessed. So a mentally distrubed Nandini, assisted by Prithvi sets for Kalindi, much to the disgust of Yash, where the mystery unfolds with some frightful incidents revealing the true identity of some characters and gives the audience some terrifying moments that can be best enjoyed in a hall.

Rani Hoa

It was not until the 10th chapter that I understood the real justification to the name of this novel penned By Narayan Sanyal. In the same book he has followed the novel with the short story, "Loukik Na Aloukik?" and an revealing article, "Ekti Bichitra Abhijnyata".
The main novel is a social drama featuring a materialistic corporate manager Mr. Muralidhar Patel whose doesn't bear any nonsense or emotion in his path to success and money. Also he easily gives in to his lust for pleasure and thus faces a serious challenge when a long lost collegemate suddenly brings him to a crucial juncture in life and forces some embarrassing moments for him to tackle. Added to this is his increasing doubt to his wife's faithfullness and the events following his daughter's accident that leaves a deep impact on his mind.
Following this up is the nice short story, "Loukik Na Aloukik?" where Providence helps the just with events that defies logic and the article, "Ekti Bichitra Abhijnyata" where the author narrates his revelations as he addresses a blind association depicting the cave arts of the Ajanta caves.

Chandni Chawk to China

A hilarious 2.5hr of comedy show featuring Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Mithunda, Gordon Liu, Ranvir Shorey and Roger Yuan.

The story opens narrating the exploits of an ancient Chinese war hero Liu Sheng, who laid down his life on the great walls of China defending his country from the threat of foreign evil and now being remembered as a God by the inhabitants of a Chinese village who had built up a statue in his memory. But as time passed away so did the courage of the people and evil returns in the form of the international criminal Hojo who trades mainly in smuggled diamonds and utilizes the poor villagers as cheap labour. The ruthless and vicious Hojo is also a master of the martial arts and the villagers are kept terrorized by his equally cruel henchmen. Merciless killings become the order of the day and the villagers ultimately confer to find a way out of their misery. They are guided by a monk who tells them that their saviour, the reincarnated Liu Sheng, has been born in the lanes of Delhi.

Now we pan to the crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, Delhi where Sidhu, a vegetable cutter at a roadside inn helps in running the food stall owned by his foster brother whom he calls Dada. Sidhu, in his idle hours, tries his luck with astrologers and lotteries and refuses to have faith in himself despite his Dada's best efforts. In his effort to get rich by shortcut he is helped by Chopstick, a fake astrologer and a slick opportunist who also knows some foreign languages.

Now two representatives from the Chinese village arrives and with the help of Chopstick they succeds in convincing Sidhu that he is the reincarnated Liu Sheng and he is more neede in China than in India. But what Chopstick supresses is the real purpose of them seeking Sidhu's help to fight off Hojo for good.

After he manages to convince Dada, Sidhu sets off for China with Chopstick and here he meets the advertising model Shaki known as Ms. Tele Shoppers Media or Ms. TSM. TSM tricks the innocent Sidhu in moving ahead of him in queue.
As Sidhu lands in China he crosses path with Suzy aka Meow Meow, the twin sister of Sakhi who was kidnapped by Hojo during their babyhood and now is used in his illegal trade of diamond smuggling. But Sidhu, unknowing of this is puzzled and is held at awe by Suzy's martial art tactics while dealing with the security.
Now in flashback we come to know that Shaki & Suzy were born off an Indian mother and a Chinese brave police officer, Chiang who lost his memory during his encounter with Hojo and got estranged from his family in the process.
The story now straightens out with a fast pace as Sidhu gradually understands his position in a sudden encounter with Hojo. Actually Hojo had been informed of his visit and he in turn kidnaps Dada and kills him in front of Sidhu. The enraged but helpless Sidhu is beaten up and is thrown off teh wall of China to be saved by the insane Chiang who had turned into a beggar following his last conflict with Hojo. Also he gets help from Chopstick, who gireve's at Dada's death and enlists in Hojo's army to spy on him and to help Shaki to be reunited with Suzy. Meanwhile some interesting incidents bring Chiang's memory back and he reunites with Shaki and trains Sidhu for a future face off with Hojo.
The final showdown is full of some classic fights and a pleasant ending is promised.
The whole movie, though full of treagedies and emotional moments, but has been blended with the correct amount of humour and humourous exaggerations though the songs could have been cartaile at places.
The only negative point is the signature Hindi movie's unexplained events as we find Chiang, with his memory back after 20 years, getting his post back in the police forces and also these years seem to have no effect on his biological age. This is really a pain to the eyes and mind as I can understand the other required oversimplifications but this can't be forgiven. Deepika Padukone's make up in the double role was excellent and so is her Chinese accent and also Ranvir Shorey & Mithunda's short appearances are nice. Akshyay Kumar is just fantastic while Gordon Liu excells with his villanous touch. In all a highly entertaining movie that promises an even better sequel!

The Floating Admiral

When the shopkeeper from his collection of old books produced this one to my query for the available Christie collections, I was taken aback at so foreign a title which I never knew to belong to the writer's list of fictions. Then as I gave a better look to the cover I found that it contains writing by G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers and certain other members of the Detection Club. Again this was a foreign name to be but my curiosity fired by intuition persuaded me to buy this which later proved to be a collector’s item. I was amazed to find that the novel was compiles by a dozen of the illustrated writers of the crime fiction. As I made a background research I found that this Club was set up in London by several English writers of detective literature and ‘The Floating Admiral’ came up following a kind of whodunit game among the members.

The whole perspective can be summarized from Sayer’s introduction that tells of the pattern devised to come up with a production of this kind.

Each of the authors was presented with the preceding chapters and was asked to write a chapter following certain conditions. Thees includd that each author must present a sealed solution with the plot that will explain all the events and will logically form a proposed conclusion. Excepting G.K. Chesterton’s prelude that was written last, the conditions were followed and we got a fascinating mix of mystery and adventure penned down one after the other by Canon Victor L. Whitechurch, G.D.H. and M. Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kenedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald A. Knox, Freeman Wills Croft, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane, Anthony Berkeley.

G.K. Chesterton, in his prelude, has given the much needed background that is best appreciated once you complete the whole story.
Canon Whitechurch, the clergyman, best known for his vegeterian railway detective Thorpe Hazel, has started the plot with the discovery of the knifed body of an admiral on a floating boat. Whitechurch stories had been admired by Ellery Queen and Sayers for their "immaculate plotting and factual accuracy: he was one of the first writers to submit his manuscripts to Scotland Yard for vetting as to police procedure". Truely the detailed plotting of the 1st chapter could not have been better narrated than that done by the Canon though he has not submitted any conclusion.
The next chapter is by the Cole brother-sister, Raymond (GDH) & Dame Margaret Isabele (a socialist politician) who had also taken the cue left by Canon and had woven the mystery further for the succeeding writers without presenting a sealed solution.
Henry Wade (psudonym of Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet, Major, CVO, DSO, Lord Lt. of Buckinghamshire for a certain period, one of the founding members, created detective Inspector John Poole) had given the first real direction as to the solution and his concepts of the tidal timings produces the first real clue to the whole mystery.
Agatha Chrisite ably takes up the threads and narrates in her own style keeping the suspense on throughout the chapter.
John Rhode (pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street better known as John Street, English writer, had dual detective series, one featuring forensic Dr. Lancelot Priestley and the other featuring Desmond Merrions where the writer used penname of Miles Berton. He also used a 3rd penname of Cecil Waye for 4 of his novels. Dr. Priestly stories were only the 2nd after Sherlock Holmes to use scientific means in detection. But he is considered to be belonging to 'humdrum' school as his puzzles were milder than other fictions of the mystery class) follows Christie and gives way to Milward Kennedy for the next session.
Kennedy (full name, Milward Rodon Kennedy Burge) was an English writer who served once in the Britisih intel and speciallized in police mysteris but created a a professional private investigator in Sir Geroge Bull. He concludes with a nice twist to be followed up later by the other writers.
Now was the turn of Sayers, the famous mystery writer and creator of Lord Peter Wimsey and she also glides through her chapter with her own style and finishes it up with a grand twist.
I could not think of a better writer than Ronald Knox to follow up at this point as the scattered clues and queries were required to be serially listed which he efficiently did making it easier for the following authors to address them one by one. He also had given his own solution and also attempted chapterwise to predict solutions from the viewpoints of the preceding authors. It should be remembered that Ronal Knox was the person to invent the decalogue of 10 commandments to be followed by mystery writers. So his methods of writing and interpreting results follow the same line and hence sometimes his solutions for the other chapters deviates greatly from the proposed ones.
Next was the turn for Freeman Wills Croft, the Irish-English mystery author whose favourite creation was Inspector Joseph French. Croft was a railway engineer and several of his works use railway timetables as unbreakable alibi. Here too he has used the railways for tracing the perpatrators of crime though the narration seemed a bit too boring at times.
Edgar Jepson, the English writer of mainstream adventure, detective fiction, supernaturals, fantasies (used pseudonym R. Edison Page collaborating possibly with John Gawsworth & Arthur Machen for many short stories) is the next author and he also weaves the story in his own style.
Clemence Dane (pseudonym of Winifred Ashton, English novelist and playwright, who with another member Helen de Guerry Simpson wrote 3 detective novels featuring Sir John Saumarez) produces a late and baffling murder to add to the confusions and it was left to Anthony Berkeley to clear up the mess.
Anthony Berkeley Cox, English crimefiction writer used pennames of Anthony Berkeley, Francis Iles, A. Monmouth Platts and created two detectives, Roger Sheringham, an egotist whom he made as unpleasant as he could that contrasted with the other creation of the pleasant nice but dithery Mr. Chotterwick. He has given a neat solution to the mystery with a bit of adventure to wrap it up and no queries had been left unanswered by Inspector Rudge.
Though it was kind of boring in the middle but its sheer idea and twists in plot no doubt forms a good mystery. My personal favourites, in order of importance that I gave, were the chapters by Henry Wade reflecting on the tidal waves that form a critical part to the whole story, the nice conclusion by Anthony Berkeley, Agatha Christie’s charming pace and Clemence Dane’s mystery writer’s signature style of presenting a late murder and the twists presented by Milward Kennedy and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Pulp Fiction

A 1994 Quentin Tarrantino directed movie featuring a host of stars including Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Frank Wahley, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, Hervery Keitel and Quentin Tarrantino himself who also is the co-writer of the film, the other being Roger Avary.
The movie co-relates some apparently detached incidents and I was able to follow it due to my knowledge of most of its parts from Wikipedia.
It starts with a plan of robbery of a diner by the couple Pumpkin and Honey Bunny and directs away to the life of two underworld assasins Jules and Vincent Vaga whose paths takes different turns due to their different philosophy to life in general.
Also there is the story of an aged prize fighter Butch whose fortunes and misfortunes combine to present him with a possible happy retire life.
In between there are characters like the mob boss Marsellus who gets the lesson of a life time, the cool Winston Wolf (I liked this person best) with his fast and efficient clean-ups, the freak drug dealer Lance and his equally freak and his obsessed-at-body-piercing wife Jody, the drug addict but fun loving Mrs. Mia Macellus and the never-appearing-but-possesing-a-stiff-character Mrs. Bonnie and his wife Jimmy.
The movie finishes off with the incidents following the robbery and the viwers gets explanation of each event satisfactorily.
I have not seen many movies like this but feel you can enjoy the story if patiently viewed!

Darpane Pratibimbito K(n)aanta

A detective novel of Narayan Sanyal down in the line of the famous 'Kanta' series with the detection family of Prasannya Kumar Basu, his wife Rani Devi and their nephew Kaushik & his spouse Sujata solving itriguing cases.
At the introduction, the author has acknowledged Agatha Christie's 'Dead Man's Mirror' and 'Murder in the Mews' and truly the main plot and the later half of the story matches the 1st of the acknowledged stories quite remarkably.
But as is the case for Mr. Sanyal's work he had carried out his researches fine and had presented the plot with a historical background celebrating the brave Maharaja Mohanlal's heroism in the battle of Plassey in which he, along with Mir Madan went against Mir Jafar's direct orders to protect the motherland from the lusty clutches of East India Company.
It is really a tribute to this unsung hero of India's war for freedom as the storyline is quite old and as I mention, the ditto of a Christie classic.
As the ex-barrister, Mr. Basu reaches the mansion of Raibahadur Jagadindranaryan Seth Roy, in answer to his telegram he finds there an ensemble of Seth Roy's associates and family members, who were invited to dinner by the master of the house. But within moments it is discovered that Seth Roy lies dead in his library room with a bullet wound in his temples. As the local police tries to gather evidence of a suicide, Mr. Basu thinks otherwise and ultimately proves it to be a case of homicide amid a tensed situation, that follows the same dramatic ploy as sketched by Christie.
I have to admit that the case is intriguing and even more interesting is the way the murder is proved but since the model is from a Christie story can't give credit to the author for it.
Setting aside the actual theme, if we just concentrate on the historical background, Mr. Sanyal again outshines himself. Also his signature style of dropping down a bit of personal justifications at places make this a collector's item for Narayan Sanyal fans and I will recommend this for its literary value.

Baksho Rahasya

The 2^nd Feluda novel featuring Lalmohanbabu and here too the description doesn’t match the chubby faced character portrayed by Santosh Dutta in Ray’s films.

This story takes Feluda and his satellites to the snowy hills of Simla where the climax takes place. It started with a Dinnath Lahiri of Calcutta getting his bag swapped with a similar looking bag of a co-passenger while returning from Delhi. He wanted to employ a trustworthy person to return the bag and so he chose Pradosh Chandra Mitra (Feluda) for the job. Actually the problem was that he didn’t know who its actual owner was as his coup was shared by three others. Apparently there was nothing interesting in the case but the detective in Feluda thought otherwise and he willingly accepted it. He learnt that the original bag contained a manuscript written by a renowned traveler of yester year, Shambhucharan Bose and was naturally interested in it. But at that time little did he knew as to the actual content of the bag for which there were repeated attempts on his life and the three musketeers started receiving threatening calls and letters that didn’t stop till Simla where the final showdown took place.

Though this had not been my favourite Feluda story but this time as I read it, I could find a different flavour in it. This was due to the fact that I remembered the criminal’s identity and so could pick out the critical facts that had hitherto passed unnoticed due to the story’s rapid pace. The minutest of details and impeccable reasoning didn’t leave a question unanswered as we finish the book without compromising on the entertainment factor.

Office Space

A hilarious 1 & 1/2 hr of comedy satiring the typical worklife of a software firm during the 90s. Written & directed by Mike Judge, the story involves a group of employees, Peter Gibbons, Michael Bolton, Samir Nagheenanajar and Tom Smykowski being constantly bullied by their boss Bill Lumbergh at Initech.
Peter is bored with his job at Initech and his boss Bill Lumbergh. Additionally he feels cheated by his girlfriend Anne and tries to cope up with his rough & tough, pervert but cool neighbour Lawrence from whom he can't keep a secret due to the partitioning wall which doesn't provide acoustical shielding. He finds a charming individual in Joanna, the waitress at Chotchkie's, a snacks lounge beside Initech's main building.
Michael Bolton is an expert programmer but has the coincidence of his name matching with a famous singer whom he personally hates.
Samir is also another programmer who is irritated whenever anybody pronounces his name badly, which is often the case.
These three a friends and also shares the same loathing to a xerox-cum-printer that always goes wrong in the middle of a process prompting messages that are Hebrew to them.
Tom Smykowski is a worthless employee who always fears that he might be fired anytime though his fear are never justified.
Added to this is Milton Waddams, who though had long been axed from the firm, but some glitch at the system continues delivering his monthly paycheck. This person mumbles a lot and threatens to set fire to the building regularly under his breath.
After the introductory phase, the main story starts with Peter being taken to an occupational hypnotherapist for Peter's mental troubles. This therapist hypnotizes Peter and before he could bring him to the state of complete relaxation he falls victim to a heart attack and dies immediately leaving Peter in a half hypnotized state. Ironically, this helps Peter who retains his job while his two friends, Peter & Samir gets fired during a downsizing of the farm.
Tom also manages to escape the axe due to an accident that helps him to seize some settlements from Initech.
But the situation infuriates Peter, Michael & Samir and they plans to plant a virus in the Initech mainframe that will accumulate the fraction of pennies during a transaction and direct them to another account so that these gathers a lot of money over time.
The plan succeeds but to their horror they find that in a few days the account accumulates a sum of over $300,000. Michael understands that he had misplaced a decimal point and now they can do nothing.
To save his friends, Peter writes a confession letter and leaves the document with unsigned Traveller's cheques (that they had converted the money in) in Bill's office. But fortune intervenes as an angry Milton gets hold of the cheques and actually sets fire to the office building on the same day.
Peter thus being saved, shifts to construction work with Lawrence, which he likes better, Peter & Samir finds a job at Initrode, a rival complany and Milton enjoys an expensive holiday at the French beaches.
The whole movie is hilarous, the most notable part being where the three friends vents their fury on the xerox-cum-printer with a baseball bat. As to the acting though the bulk is done by Ron Livingstone (Peter) but the others including Jennifer Aniston (Joanna), Ajay Naidu (Samir), David Herman (Michael), Diedrich Bader (Lawrence), Stephen Root (Milton) and Richard Riehl (Tom) also had given a nice performance, forgot to mention about the short role played by Mike Judge as the owner of Chotchkie's!

Bratya

Another Narayan Sanyal novel in which the author has produced a brilliant fusion of the incidents of the past and the present and along with it has skillfully varied the pace of the story to keep the tension running high till the very end. A social drama to start with, it shows how deeply the author had delved inside the human minds and had come up with the characters that seemed to come alive with his realistic touch.

It begins with Dr. Paramananda Chowdhury lost in thoughts as he tries to fathom where his daughter could seek refuge after she had deserted him, labeling him as a degenerate. A grief stricken Dr. Chowdhury meditates on his past life and tries to find out what in his entire career is responsible for this harsh remark. Once a sympathetic worker for the country’s freedom, he had remained sympathetic to his countrymen for which he had endured great pains and even his son’s death. Also it was under his persuasion that his factory’s workers had been able to live in coolie barracks with facilities that had been unique in the country. Today he is planning to move to the assembly to serve the nation for a better cause. After all these, he doesn't understand the unkind accusations of his daughter.

To know more about his nature and that of the other characters of the drama you have to read the story that will keep you fascinated with the surprising bends in life that alters personalities, shapes characters and revolutionize values.

The author has also used nature to reflect the various moods during the narration and has produced a masterpiece like never before.

The ending is unique as in the final phase where it ends the author has remarked that contrary to his feeling of where the story should end, the very 1^st person to read the manuscript remarked that the story lacked completeness. So the author had extended it by another two pages and here the readers may find the ultimate twist as I am sure none will predict a better and more classy finish than what the author had finally etched out.