The Critique

Creator: Jason George Starring: Jan Bijvoet, Nabil Mallat, Pauline Etienne, Laurent Capelluto, Stefano Cassetti, Vincent Londez, Regnia Bikkinina, Alba Bellugi, Babetida Sadjo, Mehmet Kurtulus and Ksawery Szlenkier Duration: One Season. Six episodes. Each about 40 mins. Into the Night  is Netflix's first original Belgian series. It kept popping up in the recommendations and its brevity attracted my attention. The series is shot mostly in French with occasional dialogues in Russian, Dutch and English. I tried changing the language setting to English but preferred to watch it in the original. The subtitles are more than enough to follow the dialogues. I realized that watching in the original language makes a world of difference for it brings one closer to the characters in a way that a dubbed voice cannot.  I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Despite its simple premise, the series which is based on a novel called The Old Axaloti  by Jacek Dukaj unfolds dramatical...

Money Heist (Spanish original: La Casa de Papel) [2017] Created: Alex Pina Starring: Ursula Corbero, Alvaro Morte, Itziar Ituno, Pedro Alonso, Paco Tous, Alba Flores, Miguel Herran, Jaime Lorente, Esther Acebo, Darko Peric and Enrique Arce. Dur: The first season is broken into 2 parts. The first part has 9 episodes while the second part has 8 episodes. Each episode is about 45-55 mins. For me, Netflix has been a name until recently. I have watched some of Netflix's shows but not on Netflix directly. The present lockdown offered me an opportunity to get in touch with Netflix firsthand. Thanks to my sister's subscription and the availability of a streaming device I finally exposed myself to the addictive world of Netflix. Thus far, my experience has been very rewarding and satisfying. The only problem I face is that Netflix does not allow you to watch at higher speeds. While this appears to have a good reason, a person like me who lives on a time-constrained schedule and ...

Chetan Bhagat , One Indian Girl , New Delhi: Rupa Publications 2016, pp. 272, Rs. 176. Chetan Bhagat has made a name for himself on the Indian literary scene with his novels. Some of them have even succeeded in feeding famished Bollywood with adventures that provided a refreshing change from mainstream storylines. Bollywood's chronic 'borrow and steal' policy has ensured that Chetan becomes a household name in India. Despite the poor literacy of our country, Chetan's books have become bestsellers read by millions. While all this is nice and heart-warming, it sadly but naturally leads to the point where whatever Chetan writes sells immaterial of quality. It is my opinion that One Indian Girl  suffers from this exact bias. I am a fan of Chetan Bhagat. His initial novels were thrilling, fresh and interesting. But once fame caught up, I detected a downward slip in quality and content. His last couple of novels have been rather poor. Revolution 2020  marked the beginnin...

Confession #1: Maps is one my favourite Maroon 5 songs. Confession #2: I am not a big fan of covers. I enjoy the original tracks. But every once in a while you come across a cover that is better than the original. This is something very interesting and great about music - there are so many different ways of doing it. Take, for instance, a song; a song can be sung in different styles or the music could make a difference; adding or subtracting an instrument can bring out a different sound and thus give the song a whole new vibe. This is what I love about music. Caleb and Kelsey have made a number of covers. I haven't heard them all. Frankly, I haven't heard 98% of them! I chanced upon this cover they made on the song Maps . My first impression was that it was well done. The voices blended beautifully. The video opened up well but then just got boring. Firstly, because it was repetitive and secondly because it lacked direction and creativity. What captured my attention, h...