The Critique

Divyadaan Brothers, Revolution of Tenderness , Mumbai: Tej Prasarini, 2016, ISBN 978-81-87060-59-8, pp. x + 150, Rs. 150. This book was released as a souvenir on the occasion of the Holy Father, Pope Francis declaring the Jubilee Year of Mercy. It is composed of a set of 10 articles written by student-brothers themselves and aiming to help the reader live out the year of mercy in mundane events of everyday life. The book opens with a prayer to be merciful to others and an anonymous poem that has no direct bearing on the theme of mercy but rather offers an insight into the direction the articles within will take. The articles don’t follow a pre-conceived pattern but reflect the individual preference of the author. There are a handful of typos and grammatical errors that crept into the pages. A number of the articles appear a bit winding and taper in quality and logic towards the end turning gradually into glorified sermons. I found just a couple of articles worthwhile. While a...

Created: The Duffer Brothers Starring: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin and Paul Reiser. Dur: Each episode is about 50 mins. There are 9 episodes in this series. Genre: Thriller PG: A few kisses. The second season picks up the narrative where the first season ends albeit a year later. Will is rescued from the upside down and things seem to inching towards normalcy. Each of the characters are, in their own way coming to grips with the catastrophe of the previous year. While some have progressed well others still find it difficult to put the past behind them. It appears that everyone except those who were affected by the evil have no idea whatsoever about what was going on. Just when things seem to be settling down, evil strikes again. The first episode is a let down. It doesn’t d...

Dir: Chris Evans Starring: Chris Evans, Alice Eve Dur: 1 hr 34 mins Genre: Romantic drama PG: A few kisses. A romantic movie with a fresh story and not to mention a fresh face too. Chris Evans’ directorial debut tells a brilliant, heart-touching story of love found literally in a pretty hopeless place: Grand Central Station, New York. I was really surprised with the storyline. It didn’t really follow the rut and wasn’t as predictable as you might think. Alice Eve played her role pretty well. She plays a woman whose marriage is on the rocks and who finds herself stranded at Grand Central Station after she misses her train. One thing leads to another and she ends up spending the night on an adventure with lonely musician, Nick (Chris Evans). Chris wasn’t at his acting best, probably because of the tension of direction but Alice does brilliantly to carry the show forward. Chris’ facial expression are painfully limited despite his mouthing stirring dialogues. This f...

Dir: Sidharth Malhotra Starring: Rani Mukherji Dur: 1 hr 55 mins Genre: Drama Rating: 9/10 Adapted from Brad Cohen’s autobiography Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome made me the Teacher I never Had and inspired by the film Front of the Class , Hichki brings Tourette syndrome to the Bollywood screen in dramatic and heart-tugging fashion. It endeavours to tell the story of Naina Mathur, a young lady afflicted by Tourette syndrome and who struggles to find employment as a teacher despite her M.Sc and B.Ed degrees. Her persistence and patience pay off as she is offered a teaching position at the very school where she received her education but more importantly acceptance and help to rise above her affliction and achieve her dreams. She in turn gives her very best to offer what she received to her class of students who so happen to be slum-dwellers with little regard for education and the ‘high-class’ culture of the school. This more than suffices for you to get a fa...

Creator: Brian Yorkey Starring: Dylan Minette, Katherine Langford Dur: Each episode had a run time of about 45-55 mins Genre: Drama Rating: 4/10 13 Reasons Why   is the number one trending show according to IMDB as of the day of this blog post. It was publicized quite a bit and created ripples with its release. Honestly, it was the hype that encouraged me to view this teen drama and I regret doing so. 13 Reasons Why didn’t have the makings of a great show. I cannot really understand what attracted people to it. Rotten Tomatoes rated it a 7.2/10 which was fairly high considering the quality of the series. The premise is perhaps the most fascinating aspect besides the acting which was really good and deserving of the praise it received. The show had little else going on for it. 13 Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker played by Katherine Langford who won a Golden Globe for her acting, who commits suicide and leaves behind a mysterious set of tapes detaili...