SHORT STORY

SHOTU...

It was a lazy Sunday morning and as there was no hurry of getting up early for office and also no school for kids. We were enjoying our slumber after hectic week’s schedule. It was around 8:30 in the morning when the silence of our room was broken by the ring of my cell phone. At first, I placed cushion on my phone to avoid it while my eyes still closed.

After a while, my phone rang once again. This time I answered and it was Atul, my friend. He told me that he is going to watch movie and want me to accompany. First of all I denied as I want to spend the day with family but he insisted to come with him alongwith family as he was also going with his family.

“I can’t assure you at the moment and will call you later about this only after having a word in this regard with Anju (my wife),” I told him and hung up.

Then I told her about the movie plan with Atul & his family and she agreed upon it.  After that I ring back Atul and told him that we are joining them for movie and decided to meet them at a tea stall near the Multiplex at 4:00 p.m.

We had our bed tea at around 9:30 a.m. and taken brunch at around12:00 noon due to weekly pending household chores.

Our eight years old son was insisting to go with us but we refused due to much violence & vulgarity in the movies nowadays.

At around 3:20 p.m. we left our house to proceed towards destination and reached there at around 3:50 p.m.  Atul had not reached there till then.

“I had already told you that no one is as punctual as you,” said Anju while opening the window of car.

“He will also be reaching there, we have reached 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Anyway, I am calling him to know about his whereabouts,” I replied her while calling Atul.

After putting the phone down I informed Anju that as informed by him, Atul will be here in around 20 minutes.

“Waiting for someone is killing”, said Anju.

“Tea at this tea stall is very tasty, let’s have tea, I told her.

I parked my car nearby and ordered two cups of tea at Tea Stall.

After sometime, a small kid (in shabby clothes) of the age somewhat same as my son, served us tea.

“What is your name beta,” said Anju while addressing to him.

“My name is Raju but everyone call me Shotu here,” he replied.

In the meanwhile, the owner yelled at him, “Hurry up Shotu, you always work lethargically, collect the cups & utensils from other tables and wash them quickly.”

“How cute and innocent boy he is,” Anju asked me pointing towards Raju.

I nodded my head in acceptance and while taking the sip of tea, our eyes were following him picking up cups & other utensils for washing speedily. While he was picking up cups & utensils, he slipped down and two-three cups fell down and broken.

After having seen the broken cups, owner of the shop while abusing him badly said, “Are you blind or what? I will recover the cost of cups from your salary and if it happened again I will throw you out of the shop.”

At the same time, Atul and his family reached the venue and I was busy talking with them. Till then Anju had rushed to the counter and was messed up with the owner of the tea stall.

“Don’t you know child labour is a crime, and how are you bullying a tender aged child on a petty issue,” Anju asked the shopkeeper in frenzy.

“You don’t know about these bastards Madam, they are slackers,” replied the shop owner.

“Hold on Mr., I am going to call police that you are doing child labour and harassing a child, Anju asked him in an intimidatory tone once again.  

As I was about to approach Anju, Raju requested me in the midway, “Sir please ask Madam ji not to interfere so that I could continue to work here.”

We persuaded Anju to calm down and asked her that Raju wants to continue to work here.

Anju said to Raju, “Why you want to work here? It is not your age for work, you should study first.”

“My father has died one year ago and my mother is also ill. I have one young brother and sister to feed, that’s why.......” he couldn’t complete his sentence and tears fell down from his beautiful eyes.

We both were stunned to know the amount of burden on the tiny shoulders of a small kid who has not enjoyed any happiness in his life.

I said to Anju, “Even if we call the police, they will send him to Children Home but what about his family.”

I then addressed to Raju, “Beta, after your work, could you want to study?”

“Yes, Why not sir,” he replied.

With the promise to teach him every weekend and after giving money for his loss to the shopkeeper with the promise not to be harsh with him in future, we left the place.

But the question about the future of scores of children like Raju or Shotu is still there. Till when kids like Raju have to ruin their childhood inspite of innumerable Govt. & Non-Government Organizations and Child Development Ministry working for child rights  & elementary education for them ???????

                                                                                    - S D Bogal

#MOVIEREVIEW – #RANGOON – (2017)

Today we are here review of Vishal Bhardwaj’s much ambitious and talked about movie ‘RANGOON (2017)’. Set in the era of 1940s, the time of Second World War & Quit India Movement against Britishers. Rangoon is starred by Kangana Ranaut, Shahid Kapoor & Saif Ali Khan in lead roles.

PLOT:

As already said, set in 1940s, the movie starts with Roosi or Mr. Billimoria (Saif Ali Khan), a former Action star & now a producer, who is the man behind the orphan Julia (Kangana Ranaut) to made her the popular action star              Ms. Julia. Being a married man, Roosi loves Julia and she on the other hand desires, slightly insecure on becoming Mrs. Billimoria at the earliest.

After Roosi’s promise to General Hardings for Julia’s performances for English Army men in Burma, her journey to Burma (Rangoon) started. Due to an attack of Japenese forces, Julia gets stuck with Jamadar Nawab Malik (Shahid Kapoor), a soldier of British Army, once prisoner of war with Japanese forces, now assigned as a bodyguard to her in the mysterious forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

During their journey in the jungle, Julia and Nawab got attracted towards each other and yes here is a love triangle in the War zone movie. However, Nawab Malik has also a huge secret with him to hide and with whom Julia will be in the end is all which is in the movie.

ANALYSIS:

Rangoon has been the ambitious project of Vishal Bhardwaj. Rangoon has many aspects in it, be it Second World War, Love triangle, Indian freedom struggle, Indian National Army of Subash Chander Bose and also poetic symbolism but overall he fails to made impact and so much angles made the movie messy.

In the beginning, General Hardings’ Urdu Shayari in British accent creates some humour but his repetition of the same through the movie is highly irritating.

Julia’s strong character in the movie is a real treat to watch be it reel life                Ms. Julia, an action star or be her off screen character. Julia’s conversation with a Japanese soldier without understanding his language is marvellous.

The romantic angle between Julia and Nawab seems hurried or forced looked more like a immodest encounter than love. There seems no chemistry between the two even. However, the dialogues in the movie are good as always from Bhardwaj’s films.

Bhardwaj’s Rangoon is perfect for its visuals through cinematography. The recreation of the era of 1940s is the perfect. Lighting and production design is fabulous. The recreation of war stricken areas is spot on, such as half burnt and broken church where Julia and Nawab take refuge in. Costumes too are well designed as per the era.  

The pace of the movie is too slow throughout, the movie is also a bit long and a long climax is a setback also. However, the music of the movie complements well to its situations.

WHAT’S GOOD:

Visually spot on and the perfect recreation of second world war era. Kangana Ranaut’s Julia is also a treat to watch.

UNINTERESTING:

Vishal Bhardwaj’s trying too much in one go ruined the concept of the movie.

STAR PERFORMANCES:-

Kangana Ranaut as Julia is a treat to watch. She pulls out Julia’s braveheart nature, insecurities in life, fearless loving quite comfortably.

Saif Ali Khan as Roosi fails to impress the audiences. His character is also the weakest of all.

Shahid Kapoor as Jamadar Nawab Malik does a good job as a soldier.

FINAL WORDS:

It is not a class film of Vishal Bhardwaj. Lengthy and forced somewhere, its a puzzled mixture of war-love-freedom struggle.

My ratings for this movie is 2.2 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ

मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ। 
करता हूँ पूर्ण निष्ठा से कर्तव्यों का निर्वाहन, 
बस उसी का सरकार द्वारा प्रतिकार चाहता हूँ।
मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ।। 

करता हूँ ईमानदारी से हर नियम का पालन, 
अदा करता हूँ हर प्रकार का कर, 
इसीलिए संविधान निहित सभी अधिकार चाहता हूँ।
 मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ।।

 मैं धर्म व जाति के भेदभाव रहित समाज चाहता हूँ, 
सदियों के सड़े गले रिवाजों से निजात चाहता हूँ। 
अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रा के शलावे से चिंतित हूँ, 
मैं स्वस्छ बहस का वातावरण चाहता हूँ। 
मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ।। 

यह लोकतन्त्र है या लूटतंत्र, समझ नहीं पाता हूँ, 
जहां हज़ारों करोड़ के कर्ज़दार घूमते विदेशों में, 
पर कुछ हज़ार के क़र्ज़ चुका पाने में असमर्थ  
गरीब किसानों को सल्फास चाटते या सूली पर टंगा पाता हूँ 
मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ।। 

समृद्धता प्रदर्शित करती चौड़ी-चौड़ी सड़कों पर,
भूख से बिलखते बच्चों को देखकर, 
उनका बर्बाद होता बचपन देखकर,
मैं सरकार से पूछना सवाल चाहता हूँ। 
मैं विद्रोही नहीं हूँ बस अपने अधिकार चाहता हूँ।।

- स्वर्ण दीप 

MOVIE REVIEW 

The Gazi Attack – (2017)

Today we are here with review of one of the movies released this week by the name ‘THE GAZI ATTACK (2017)’. This war theme movie is directed by South Indian movie director Sankalp Reddy. The Ghazi Attack is starred  by Rana Daggubati, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni & Taapsee Pannu in lead roles. The movie is inspired by true events from the 1971 India-Pakistan war and is an underwater tale of nerves & patriotism of the Indian Naval officials on the Indian Submarine S-21.

PLOT:

Indian Submarine S21, led by Captain Rann Vijay Singh (Kay Kay Menon), Leiutenant Arjun Verma (Rana Daggubati) and Executive Officer Dev Raj (Atul Kulkarni), sent on a recce mission in the Bay of Bengal for checking the Pakistani activity after intelligence input in the Naval Eastern Command.

Rann Vijay is an impulsive captain who is always ready for war and wants to kill the enemy at first sight. Arjun, on the other hand is ordered to maintain peace in the ship and await for orders and as far as Devraj is concerned, he is the peacemaker between the two.

PNS Ghazi and INS Rajput are onto one another, launching torpedoes. The movie shows how S21 after being hit once, not only survived but come out victorious.

ANALYSIS:

This has been a first war film of bollywood which portrays the underwater war in a naval submarine. It does manage to hook to an extent to a story of Indian Navy’s classified mission that has also not find any space in text books itself.

The film’s plot wins in the detailing that has been provided in the procedures followed on a submarine. The second half of the movie is gripping one with close encounters of Indian Submarine S21 and the Pakistani Submarine Ghazi with launching torpedoes.  The funny dialogue of the Pakistani captain is also hilarious when he says, ‘Ye Commander hai ya liftman’ when Indian Submarine shifts up and down, adjusting to the Pakistani shooting range.

Dealing with historic events in Indian cinema is not easy and hence the makers post a huge disclaimer, even mentioning their actors, directors as ‘law abiding citizens of the country’. The first half of the movie is too dramatic, when Singh’s character is shown an over aggressive, who is hell bent to go on war, defying orders when he knows his decision will wage war between two countries which is not declared yet (due to his personal reason). The character of Pakistani captain was not upto mark who is more busy giving threatening looks than orders.

Also, the character of Taapsee Pannu and a child, who are refugees of                East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) landing up on the Indian submarine is slightly unnecessary.

The production design of the film is impressive. The submarine insides with their lofty instruments are well made and give you a complete feel of being a part of Naval ship.

WHAT’S GOOD:

As a war film that too underwater with the interiors of submarine, The Gazi Attack is good enough to watch.

UNINTERESTING:

Kay Kay Menon’s role is slightly over the top and few scratchy dialogues and unnecessary Taapsee Pannu angle.

STAR PERFORMANCES:-

Kay Kay Menon’s role as Rann Vijay Singh is not upto the standards he has already set with the strong characters played by him earlier.

Rana Daggubati does a decent job as a calm Naval officer.

Atul Kulkarni is one of the actor of that zone who can pull off any character. As officer Devraj he is excellent.

Late actor Om Puri is a part of the film and he makes an impact with his limited role too.

Taapsee Pannu doesn’t has much to offer in the film except her shocked expression all through the film.

Rahul Singh as Ghazi’s captain is not that good.

FINAL WORDS:

A good war film underwaters that is new for bollywood audiences with good acting. Moreover, it is interesting enough as an untold story of 1971 war.

My ratings for this movie is 2.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

SHORT STORY

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY??

My name is Jyoti and I am working as a teacher in a small private school in our locality. My husband namely Sanjay, is working as Clerk in the Education Department. Though, he is a Clerk and has every opportunity of indulging in corrupt practices; he is honest and a man of principles. We have two lovely kids namely Aditya and Aisha, who are 18 and 10 years old respectively.

As it is quite hot in the month of May and so was that day. After coming from the School, I finished the household chores and was waiting for Sanjay for evening tea. There was a knock at the door, Aditya opened the door and it was Sanjay.

I offered him a glass of water while he was still standing in the living room. He refused and then I noticed that he is looking upset and disturbed.

“What happened?” I said to him while enquiring.

“Nothing,” he replied coldly.

“Swear on me, you have to tell me what is the problem,” I insisted again.

“The result of Common Entrance Test for Engineering & MBBS Courses has been out today,” he replied.

Glass of water held by me fell on ground and shattered into pieces all around the room like the dreams of Aditya.

Aditya, who was also present there, left the place and ran towards his room with tears on his face. Aditya’s reaction was normal as he had studied day and night to work for his dream to become an Engineer and has also passed 10+2 with 93% marks this year but could not appear in CET examination as his Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC*) is under process with the Revenue Department since last more than two years. Being a middle class family, we couldn’t afford Engineering College fee and the only hope for we people is Govt. Colleges and that too was shattered in view of non availability of PRC.

(*Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) is required to apply for all Govt. jobs offered by Govt. of J&K and also for all the Entrance Tests including J&K Common Entrance Test for Engineering & MBBS)

I was reminded of the time when Sanjay used to visit the Municipal office time and again for issue of Aisha’s Birth Certificate but was not successful as he was not ready to give any bribe to Municipal officials. Eventually, I had to call my brother for the same and he had put some bribe in the pockets of Municipal officials to get the Birth Certificate. Though Sanjay had serious objections that why I allow him to bribe Govt. officials.

“Jyoti, Jyoti, tell me where you have kept my clothes, I am not able to find them,” Sanjay called me from the room and I came out of my thoughts.

“Why are you shouting?” I said to him while going to the room.

“I know you are upset but what can be done?” he responded politely.

On hearing this I lost my temper and said, “It is all because of you and your out of the world principles that has ruined the career of my son. Now, he had to wait for one more year for appearing in the said Entrance Test that only if you would be able to get his PRC till then.”

He replied surprisingly, “you think it’s my fault and not of the officials who have always been putting objections on the file of Aditya’s PRC on one pretext or other for want of bribe.”

“Yes! You are responsible for that and for God sake put your principles of ‘Honest is the best policy’ on stack so that the future of our kids may not be worsened further,” I asked him in displeasure.

“I know that there is corruption in system due to which Aditya has to face problems but how can I promote corruption by giving bribe for my work when I believe that it is a heinous crime which is spoiling the system,” he again responded politely.

“In which world do you live? Honesty, truth etc. are only meant to be taught in the schools to kids and have no value in the real world”, I replied to him.

I continued further, “As you know for any work in any Department, be it Social Welfare, Revenue, PHE, PWD, Education, Health or Municipality etc. without corruption nothing is going to happen. Money is the only force for the movement of the files.”

During this whole argument we didn’t noticed when Aisha entered our room and from when she was listening to us. We were aware about her presence when she while pulling my dupatta said to me curiously, “Mumma, Mumma, tell me one thing.”

“What beta?” I said.

She replied, “Mumma, it means the story ‘Honesty is the Best Policy’ taught by you is a lie?”

“It means all the moral stories you people and the teachers kept teaching & telling us all these years are lies!!!! The real world is as different as you were telling to Papa??”

I had no answer for her!!! Not even has Sanjay. We both were looking towards Sanjay answerless.

But question remain still there. Are the moral stories taught to the kids beneficial for them when in actual the system is so corrupt where honest persons are sidelined and corrupt rule the roost.

                                                                                    - S D Bogal

#MOVIEREVIEW – #JollyLLB-2 – (2017)

Today we are here with review of a much talked out courtroom drama movie JOLLY LLB-2 which satirizes the Indian Legal system due to which a Petition was also filed against this movie in the Bombay High Court for showing the judicial system in a bad shape and as a result, the Committees were formed by the Bombay High Court & the Supreme Court of India to review the movie. JOLLY LLB-2 is a sequel to Jolly LLB(2013) and written & directed by the same Subash Kapoor and has Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor & Sayani Gupta in lead roles.

PLOT:

Jagdishwar Mishra alias Jolly (Akshay Kumar) is a struggling lawyer who works as an Assistant to a senior Advocate Rizvi of Luckhnow who aspires to be a good lawyer and make his father proud.

After the suicide of Hina (Sayani Gupta) whose husband is killed in a fake encounter, Jolly decides to fight case of Hina. A complicated case that revolves around terrorism, fake encounter & corruption becomes very tough affair for Jolly.

After all odds, will he be able to unearth the truth and bring justice is what is left to see in the movie.

ANALYSIS:

The sequel as expected is a quite fun affair which gets serious at right moments. The movie is made on quite serious issue and for making it neutral, the filmmaker has tried to add humour from time to time especially the funny behaviour of Judge in the courtroom e.g. coming in the courtroom while dancing, his lowering the lamp, putting the five hammers on his table.

Some of the humorous scenes look unnecessary also such as Judge’s (Sourav Shukla) call related to Manish Malhotra’s Lehga or his dancing on the tune of Punjabi song. Dialogues are peculiar and some of them very emotional.

Jolly’s transition from smaller cases to bigger case is missing and his preparation for the case is also missing to some extent and else he is kept busy singing ‘BAANWRA MANN’.

Scene of the Cricket match between Ghoonghat waalis v/s Bhurkaa waalis with the name captioned on their backs such as Ganesh’s bua or Babu’s bahu or Shahid’s Khaala symbolizing the situation of females in our society, touches my heart. Also, Akshay’s cooking food for his wife and son, is also a new thing for bollywood.

Kanpur, Luckhnow city locations and the Courtroom scenes have been beautifully shot and one of the best scene is when Defense Lawyer Mathur and Judge Tripathi sits for dharna in the Courtroom itself.

The climax is slightly overstretched especially Mathur’s emotional drama involving his father and talking about his family and Justice Tripathi’s emotional speech in the end while delivering final verdict. The music is not that good.

WHAT’S GOOD:

Movie’s good dialogues and strong star cast makes movie a treat to watch. Full entertainment with a message for society and no dull moment.

NOT GOOD:

Sometimes, the movie loses its pace.

STAR PERFORMANCES:-

Akshay Kumar as Jolly has performed better than Arshad Warsi in Jolly LLB and filmmakers would be happy with their decision to replace him as Akshay play the role with great perfection.

Saurabh Shukla has played the part of Justice Tripathi with full dedication and is a treat to watch, he is a complete entertainer in the movie.

Annu Kapoor as a Lakhnavi Lawyer Mathur has also does a decent job. Huma Qureshi as an alcoholic and Jolly’s wife has looked good. Sayani Gupta as Hina makes a statement with her few scenes in the movie. Kumud Mishra has perfectly played his negative role in the movie.

FINAL WORDS:

Jolly LLB 2 is full on entertainer with humour and statement. With Saurabh Shukla and Akshay Kumar at their best.

My ratings for this movie is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S