KRITHI

 If you are a person who understands dark humour and caste just as equally, you can feel the sting of the slap that 'Kari' has offered the society. This highly praised film by the late Shanavas Naranipuzha (may his soul rest in peace) is packed with sarcasm and gets into the heads of the audience. It teases the complexes that live deep rooted even in our so-called progressive society. It is the story of Gopu Keshav Menon who, accompanied by Bilal, is going to meet the parents of a man working under him and is from a lower cast. Upon reaching the place, they see that the house is being prepared for the 'Karinkaali' pooja. In an unfortunate turn of events their Kaali gets into an accident and Gopu and Bilal arrange another Kaali for the family. These and the events thus following are the basic contents of the movie. When I said that the movie is packed with sarcasm, I actually meant it. One of the opening scenes begin with a man putting up a poster of nutmeg seeds. Nutmeg...

Most of us really love to investigate on our family trees, but do trees have families? Lets check it out. According to Suzane Simard, a famous tree researcher, trees are intelligent, they communicate and help each other. Plus they do have family members as we do. Isn't it interesting?? The research about the family of trees all began with Suzanne's idea of wood wide web, a way of describing the network of roots linking trees to other trees of same family. In her research, she found that the parent trees favours seedlings that are of their own kin than strangers. In this way parent trees help their offspring. Mother trees can recognize and feed other trees of their own kin. Dying trees even seem to know the future, and warn their offspring to start making new root connection before they die. In short, the trees are much more intelligent than we ever thought. And, you are probably gonna have a different experience next time when you walk through the woods, surrounded by a lot of ...

 Let's award the most unreliable narration of my life, shall we? Here goes to 'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins. It is no wonder that this particular book was made into a movie. Surely, cinematic adaptations don’t always come too close to the perfection of its book but when even the storyline is as such, chances of a bad movie are slim. A grip of anxiety that doesn't let go of you till the very end, each passing chapter leaving you with more questions than the earlier, a juggle of timelines and narrators with the perfect balance; these might be phrases adequate enough to summarize what one feels while reading the book. The story has a 'woman' on the train but is named "The Girl on the Train" credits to which could perhaps be given to Paula Hawkins' earlier book, a success as good as this one, "Gone Girl". "One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl. I'm stuck on three. I just can't get any further."- this is Ra...

 If you are looking for something to read not because you want a story line, not because you want to get thrilled and definitely not because you want to be overcome with emotion, 'The World of Nagaraj' might just be the book that you're looking for. No hard feelings, no leaving you with a gap in your heart, no anything. Just the classic story of a man named Nagaraj. Nagaraj fancies himself a man with a mission, a secret mission at least. It is to write a book on Narada, the celestial sage that spreads mischief. He doesn't know where or how to find the information needed to write his book nor is he very ambitious about it. Nevertheless life is easy-going with his ancestral money and what he gets from passing leisure time as a cashier at his friend's sari centre. He lived in their ancestral house with his mother, wife and no children. Bereft of any children himself, he develops a fondness for his elder brother's son, christened Krishnaji, but generally known as Ti...

TWO is a thought provoking short film by Sathyajit Ray. Its a kind of a silent movie with no conversations at all, but still a lot of messages are beautifully conveyed through the movie. 'TWO' picturises the story of two boys, a rich one who lives in a big house and a poor one who lives in a slum which can be seen through the window of the rich kid's house. The movie opens with the scene of the rich kid left alone in his house with a lot of luxurious toys by his parents, he was wearing a mickey mouse cap and was roaming around and playing with his toy robot. All of a sudden the rich boy notices the sound of a flute. When he looked outside through the window, he finds that it was the poor boy who was playing the flute. Soon he brings his trumpet and plays it through the window, slowly a competition was rising in minds of the children. The poor boy soon keep the flute away and comes with his toy mask, hoping that he could beat the rich kid but this time too, the r...

Happiness never lies in materialistic aspects. All it depends upon the person who enjoys it.Moreover,it matters whether it comes from within or not.That can mark great significance.          TWO,a prominent short film directed by Satyajith Ray in 1964,shows the above described theme in hardle 15 minutes.A film without any words is still capable of touching the hearts of millions,even in this Dramebaaz era.The fable is of two boys,as the name goes.One a rich bossy kid,who is greatly privileged,and the other one who builds his empire from a shack.The movie progresses through the window of the mansion. The two kids seems to be in a hurry of showcasing their assets-Toys.The beginning is with a flute by the Indigent boy which is imitated by a trumpet in lieu of flute. Likewise,the rich kid tries to impose his superiority in every toy the other one has. The superiority goes along with the other one's drum, bow and arrow etc.He tries to bre...

'Two : A Film Fable', is a black and white silent short film written and directed by the Bengali director Satyajit Ray. This short was part of a trilogy that were made upon the request of a non-profit American public broadcasting television, PBS. This film was made as a tribute to the genre of silent films, Ray being an admirer of the mentioned. 'Two' might perhaps be the least watched among Ray's movies but it is one that probably got the highest praise from critics all over the world. Not to mention that Satyajit Ray has almost no bad movies anyways.  The film features two boys, one rich and one poor. The rich boy is left all alone in his mansion looking for ways to pass his time. This is when he hears the sound of a flute being played by a poor boy living in a shanty shelter behind his house. This provokes interest in the rich boy and he immediately rushes to showcase his flute which obviously is much better than the poor kid's. This leads to the two being en...