Mausam

A Gulzar musical and directed film starring Sanjeeb Kumar and Sharmila Tagore with the melodious compositions of Madan Mohan.
Tha drama of the story unfolds from the very first scenes where an aged Dr. Amarnath Gill, holidaying in the picteresque hillstation of Darjeeling, is found to be haunted by some past memories. As the story rolls on, it reveals his past in which he, as an undergraduate, while staying at Darjeeling and preparing for the finals in Calcutta, fell in love with a locale by the name of Chanda, only daughter to a warm hearted local healer, Harihar Thapa. Dr. Gill wished to marry Chanda but situation warranted him to return to Calcutta and he promised Chanda of a quick return. But an unfortunate incident prevented that for 3 long years after which embarrassment got the better of him and kept him away from Chanda. Thus the still bachelor Dr. Gill had come back to his place of lost love after twenty years to make amends for his past folly. But here he learns that the shock had first driven Chanda to insanity and ultimately she died years after giving birth to her only daughter, Kajli. Tragedy continues as Dr. Gill encounters Kajli in a brothel and an attempt to save her future results in Kajli falling in love with him. Emotions runs high till the very end and this moving story will sure to cause a lasting impact on the viewer's mind.

Hemendrakumar Roy Rachanabali Vol – I

As Khagendranath Mitra correctly summarises in his introduction, Hemen Roy was the pioneer in the Bengali adventure classic domain for the young and the writer's works generally concentrated on celebration of the powerful masculine with the supernaturals too playing some important roles owing to him being a staunch believer in the same. Thus we are yet again presented with some of his memorable classics in this volume whose content runs as

1. Jokher Dhan
2. Sandhyar Pore Sabdhan
3. Himachaler Swapna
4. Ekhon J(n)ader Dekhchi
5. Meghdooteer Martye Agaman
6. Chora
7. Chithi

Starting with the young Bimal-Kumar's 1st adventure in Jokher Dhon, we have a collection of short horror stories to follow up in Sandhyar Pore Sabdhan. Most of the stories of the later collection have one thing in common: each of the tale narrates happenings during the dark hours after sunset. Some of these have been based on foreign stories which the able penmanship of Roy has transformed to suit our familiar surroundings. Though targetted for an young audience, older readers can derive much amusement from quite a few of them. Infact the 3rd story is really meant for the li'l ones and here the style can be compared to Lila Majumdar's, where the misadventures of an escaped Himalayan Bear from Alipore zoo in quest for his motherland have been narrated with the best possible humour to attract the young minds. Infact, just analysing the humour part, I found it to be very similar to that applied to the Tenida stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay. That this versatile writer, mainly remebered for his perilous adventure stories, can also be a master of humourous pieces is proved by this wonderful anecdote. Ekhon J(n)ader Dekhchi starts with an essay on the cultural abode of Jorasako Thalurbari and continues with tributes to the Bengali genius of Abanindranath Tagore, historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar, and culminates with fond reminiscences of Sourindra Mohan Mukhopadhyay and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Meghdooteer Martye Agaman is a science fiction thriller and I'd read this earlier and could never forget the thrilling concept till date. The collection of poems in Chora begins with a delightful nonsense verse while the rest a mainly mean for young uns. In Chithi, how a simple letter to his nieces can have a significant literary value will be appreciated and is worth going thru.

Hetamgarhe Hoi Choi

A Gurudas Bannerjee directed and acted Hattamela presentation of children's drama that blends humour and stark reality in a delightful manner presentable to children and the use of young actors and actresses deserves compliment.
The story begins with the a petty thief, Pocha, fed up with the regular squabbles with his wife, tries to put an end to his life in the ghost-ridden forest of Hetamgarh. Here he is meets an aged ghost who assures him that a spirit is unable to take human life by force and asks him to reconsider his decision. Almost immediately follows his encounter with an escaped sickly tiger from a circus who can talk and he too, contrary to taking lives, asks Pocha to think again. Then follows the adventure of Gabbar Singh, the dacoit and his satellite Kalia who reaches the forest in search of a hidden treasure followed by police officer Badan with his constable Sankhachur whom he sometimes mistakenly refers to as Chanachur. In the midst of this treasure hunt Khecha, the dead father of Pocha, appears and tells his son about the location of the treasure and then onwards everybody try their luck at the hidden wealth. This treasure hunt continues till Pocha ultimately evades everybody but then came the problem as he fails to open the treasure chest, an eggshaped box without a lid. The audience will be pleased with the final revelation of the treasure and the drama ends with the message that even in the faces of all odds it is left to man himself to find a way out and thus bring happiness to the soul.
The drama ended with Mr. Bannerjee acknowledging the the contribution of Meghnad Bhattacharya in the stage setting and Mr. Subhabrata Ghosh as the storywriter but I felt the acknowledgement was incomplete as he never mentioned the source of the starting tune that I thought to be the same as that used in Goopy Gaine Bagha Baine during the ghost dance at the forest.

Jim Corbett Omnibus Vol I

Never before had I felt more truth in the saying 'truth is stranger than fiction' as I felt after completing this volume containing three of Corbett's collection of his adventures that he categorized as

1. The Man-eaters of Kumaoun
2. The Temple Tiger & More Man-eaters of Kumaon
3. The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag

The 1st & 2nd collections deal with his hunts of the man-eaters of the Kumaon region, at the foothills of the Himalayas, in the then state of Uttar Pradesh (it is part of Uttarakhand now). Automatically, Nature plays a significant role in the narratives. The numerous variety of flora and fauna has rightly found its place in these adventure in the wilderness and the writer in Jim Corbett skillfully uses these to shed a vivid glimpse on the beauty of the jungles. Though the descriptions are exciting to read but you really need to concentrate on the lines else you may miss the true flavour of the adventures. The hunter had also paid tribute to several unsung heroes, comprising mainly of the inhabitants, farmers and the women, of the surrounding villages, whose deeds have left a deep impact on his mind. Bala Singh, Madho Singh and Ibbotson were to name a few.

He started the 1^st collection with a critical explanation of how a normal tiger or a similar carnivore develops man-eating habits and has gone straight to the chilling exploits starting with his hunt of the Champawat man-eating tiger. After this he narrates the events following his promise to a district conference at February 1929 to kill the man-eating trio labeled as the Kanda man-eater of Garhwal district, the Chowgarh man-eater of Naini Tal district and the Mohan man-eater of the Almora district that terrorized their respective zones. The reader will be held in awe while reading the face to face encounter with the Chowgarh tigress which the famous huntsman could kill only after a patient and highly risky manoeuvre with his rifle held in one hand while keeping his eyes locked with that of the man-eater from a precarious position that lasted for hours. Corbett stalked and ultimately killed the Mohan man-eater while it was taking a nap and the readers will understand his pang of remorse at this apparently unsportsmanlike strike but at the same time it should be remembered that his action gave relief to the villagers of the district where normal life of the inhabitants had previously been terrorized by this unruly creature. The unselfish soul of the hunter is again revealed as we find his thoughts, after killing the Kanda man-eater, meander off to the brave and bereaved father of one of the man-eater's previous victims who risked his life searching for his son in the dark forest at night fully aware of the man-eater looming at large. That he cared for the poor villagers is revealed many times in his writings and several of their brave acts had been brought to light by this noble hunter. Infact his feelings were not limited to humans only as we find him regretting the killing of the Pipal Pani tiger due to his misapprehension of the former being turned to a man-eater due to some stray bullet wounds.

All the anecdotes are priceless and fascinating accounts of Corbett’s exploits in the foothills of the Himalayas, be it the bagging of the renowned trophy known as the Bachelor of Powalgarh or in his quest for the ferocious man-eater like the Thak tigress that drove him to the point of depression and which he could only bring down risking his life with minutes left before the daylight disappeared. This last episode happened to take place during the final phase of his hunting career.

Strewn in between these chapters of fierce encounters, are some lighter narratives like his angling exploits and the intense episodes during his close encounter with a game leopard with Robin, his faithful pet for several years that he narrates in a cheerful tone. There is also a fascinating precis of his 4.5 months of photo shooting episode in 1938 during which period he took various snaps of a pack of tigers in the early morning hours. During this, the reader will appreciate the simple but highly effective method that he employed to dampen the shutter's sound. This he did by creating several dwarf waterfalls out of a nearby stream whose gurgles took care of the camera sounds.

In the narratives, he had considered each and every element of the forests including supernaturals and superstitions which he either hints at or describes in full and which can be found in his account during the Champawat chase, the ghost echo that he heard at the Thak village and his repeated unsuccessful attempts while chasing the Temple tiger. The Temple tiger was chased while he was on the look out of the man-eating leopard at Panar, and here he shares his views at some very curious incidents that foiled his each attempt at the tiger’s life. Infact he had been advised earlier that this particular tiger can never be killed and his repeated failures that concluded with a humorous episode questions the reader’s non-superstitious beliefs. This chase also brings to light the rational being in this noble hunter and his love of the place, Dabidhura. Also at places in the narratives, he sometimes strays off to give delightful accounts of several avian chases, a noteworthy being a chase triggerred by an osprey. Several of his accounts touches on animal psychology and some of the misapprehensions of the readers will surely be cleared by these.

The 2nd part also contains his encounters with the man-eating tigress of Muktesar, that he found to be wounded by tens of porcupine quills and one of his earliest hunts (along with Champawat tiger) of the Panar leopard. Also he relates his hunt of the Chuka man-eater and while doing so, recounts and pays tribute to a brave Mother, village boys and several villagers of a search party. He also recalls a dramatic moment where he witnessed tiger cubs being trained to the jungle laws by their mother who in all probability turned out to be the Thak man-eater in later years. While recounting the chase for the Talla Des tigress, converted to a man-eater possibly due to the painful 2" - 6" porcupine quills, the author recommends that to appreciate fully his keen knowledge of the jungle sounds and signs that plays an important part during the hunt, Jungle Lore should be read first. But, I can assure you that it's none the less enjoyable without the background that Jungle Lore probably furnishes. Here we find the hunter, in a severely handicapped stage due to some previous accidents which hampered his hearing during this critical adventure. Only relying on the sense of sight, did he undertake to carry this fearful task that lasted for 5 days and his tracking was done, in this case, entirely by foot. While recounting this incredible achievment, he speaks of some wonderfully simple but elegant form of jungle signs and gives the reader some lessons on the jungle ways. Also, while acknowledging his own superstitions and that of the locals, he narrates an inexplicable incident of lights below Puranagiri Holy Shrine that had some religious explanations. He finishes off the 2nd part sharing his nostalgic feelings associated with the incredible Talla Des man-eater chase.

The 3rd part begins with a route map to the Rudraprayag confluence and Corbett devotes a chapter on the nature of man-eating leopards and how it differs from tigers. He also emphasized the terror the man-eater created with his silent stalkings that recorded an official census of 125 kills during his 8 years of operation starting from 1918. Corbett, who always respected the Indians and their religion, clearly understood the threat that not only affected the surrounding villages but also the millions of pilgrims who undertake the strenuous journey via this route to Kedarnath every year. Thus he regrets the three instances when superstitions and some unfortunate incidents prevented the leopard to be killed at a much earlier date. The cunningness of the leopard and series of misfortunes prevented Corbett to kill the man-eater in his 1st try and was subjected to harsh remakrs from the press though the hillfolks and the inhabitants of the nearby villages never lost confidence in him. So he returned in 1926 and could kill the carnivore following several sleepless nights on a treetop machaan. He finishes off the volume with his nostalgic feelings and his vision of a future India glorified and strengthened by the sons of the soils. It is to be kept in mind that the year was before Independence, but an Irish by birth, this wonderful person loved India, her nature and her people from his heart.

His humble attitude in the manner of ascribing part of his glory to luck needs to be mentioned here as this reflects the greatness of this distinguished and possibly the best hunter of all times.

Oxford India Press has paid a wonderful tribute by publishing this excellent volume adorned with some wonderful sketches that reveals vividly the forests of the northern India and their elements but some typographic error slightly marrs the unless otherwise lucid narratives.

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.