Movie Review - Oggarane - Kannada Movie - Prakash Rai , Sneha

Review - Oggarane - Kannada Movie 

Never have i cut a piece of ginger n green chilly with so much love as i did today! Oggarane, this is what the movie can do to you! such a gripping movie that I finished watching it one go...

The first thing that you will notice and that which is obvious is Prakash Rai's large heart in casting the actors in this movie.. almost 50% of the star cast are STRUGGLING ACTORS according to me.. pardon me on my limited knowledge if it is other wise...but in general if you see. Urvashi - she's going thru a continuous low after her divorce and fight for daughter's custody, being an alcoholic she lost the case and her daughter is living with the husband.. yes to the world she's married again.. but a chance in a lovely movie as this is a sure welcome break for the Micheal madana kama rajan's shy n giggly lass!

Don't know much about the other actors , but the gorgeous Aishwarya, lakshmi's daughter donning the role of a confidante and a close friend of Prakash rai is a sweet choice! Sneha ofcourse, the eye candy of the movie.. loved her subtle portrayal of a spinster upset with her single tag status that the world around her taunts her with!

Much as I grumbled last evening about exams being postponed ..feeling better after watching the movie as I could still get my late morning sleep :-p..

Oggarane, prakash rai sir ...respects to the guddadha bhootha hero!!! It is one thing to be run on the mill actor and another to carve a niche of your own...

there's so much to life!! All we need to make ourselves understand and believe that yes even I could do something unique! And not just do a usual killywood formula.. Or do what almost all TV stars acting in serials are doing today ..u know continue to vouch for wrong content by agreeing to b a part of crappy TV flicks just because they are able to make oodles of money...we the viewers end up paying them n encouraging them to do more nonsense by our foolish fan following...

Thankfully directors/actors like prakash rai n nawazuddin siddiquie are proving to be those unique elements who are most wanted!!

Thankfully Indian cinema has arrived ...yes a few friends enlightened me that it is a remake of a mallu movie also made in Tamil.. 

Oggarane- un samayal arayil -salt n pepper a must watch if u have not watched yet

Baby Memory Quilt - Work in progress

So happy..as the making of the baby memo ry quilt is almost in the finishing stage.. 

:-) An able hand that transforms your design into reality is a great asset to have and my lady Sujatha is surprising me each time.. Such amazing native intelligence i tell you!

Attractions :

1. Pockets are all made out of recycling the sleeves of all baby clothes :-)

2. Mittens are all used as border embellishments :-) 
3. While the front of the dresses are in the body of the quilt, the back portion plain portion of all the baby clothes have been cut into rectangle shapes and lined as border to the quilt as you can see and the mittens have been alternated to give it a pattern..

4. yet to write the baby girl's name onto it.. 

Final pic in a couple of days!! :-)

Orders for Baby Memory quilts are welcome!
Vidya Ramamurthy
Satthvam
9886101278

A memorable day for Satthvam!

A memorable day for Satthvam. A day of beautiful experiences with people whom i never knew. Enrolled my house help lady's daughter into an english medium School into the 3rd Standard and Satthvam will be funding her further studies too as much as she wishes to study.

It was not planned at all.. it just happened.. One of those sad days for the lady when she opened up about her elder daughter still being in her home town and being ill treated by her relative.. All of 8 years herself..the girl was made to take care of their little daughter who was some 4 yrs old.. she was supposed to feed the little one khana while no one would bother feeding or bathing or combing the older ones hair.. was made to do odd jobs in the house… With all this the girl thankfully studied well and passed her 2nd grade with good marks in kannada medium but…

That was enough for me to take a decision on her and instructed my lady to get the TC from the school in her native and bring her here.. 

So proud to have shared room space for 10 minutes with this amazing lady! That was not all.. Grapevine was that our girl will be taken for the 2nd grade since she may not cope up.. But since sheholds a lot of potential we wanted to give it a try requesting and the Ma’m was too kind for us.. She did not take more than one minute to decide to give her a year’s time to prove her acclimatisation and told us, your girl has this years time.. where in she must study well and prove with better marks in every test.. hopefully her performance should improve after every test.. my lady has arranged for tuitions for both her daughters since she is not educated enough and wants her daughters to do well in life..

First my debit card gets invalid and it strikes me that there was a courier fromthe bank which i had ignored thinking its just another credit card the bank is trying to dump on you.. happened to be the new card and the code and all.. what a jolt.. and i begin looking all over the house but no sign of it..even my cheque book was an old one .. was not even sure if it was valid since all transactions are online..and so i hardly get any routine couriers...quickly called the bank helpdesk and an angel only replied..my god i literally begged her not to keep the phone down and help me as i had neither the time nor the energy to repeat the story to another staff again... i had given my word to the girl..a lot of arrangement from hometown had hpapened co ordinating for the TC and all..and i could not let a delay happen! . and told her the purpose..

 Payal the Customer service person on call was another god send! you know how it is, your brain stops working and it did not strike me that i could check about the validity of the cheque ! she calmed me down and what she told me i will always be thankful to her for that! said ' please take a deep breath mam, i am with you, dont worry even if this call takes an hour i will ensure your problem is solved to the best ability...and quickly asked me about the cheque book until then i had forgotten about its existance.. quickly pulled it out and she asked me to read the code written on the leaf.. and said its very much usable..and blocked the previous new lost card..and issued a fresh one that will reach me in a week.. thanked her profusely for she too is a big part of todays acheivement in the little girls life!

After many follow ups from the govt school in mandya..finally after schools re-opened..got the TC and today enrolled my girl into Reddy school ..Many good souls seem to cross my path every day! One such being the Reddy School Principal Mrs. Meenakshi.. What a humble lady she is…my god.. she was so understanding when we mentioned our intent to strictly get her into english medium.. her younger sister is already in the same school doing UKG and she’s being a bright child.. Hopefully the kids should do well.. Ma’m went on to narrate how she herself was from Kannada medium and studied amidst a lot of struggles in her childhood and at this later part of her 50s she actually did her graduation and post graduation and all the necessary qualifications needed for the position she holds..

Have tears of joy when I share this post.. and it was meant to be so.. Again , Gods hand..at every path of our lives.. Feeling blessed..

Tanu Weds Manu Returns - Hindi Movie Review

"Hero - Kangana Ranaut
Heroine - Kangana Ranaut
Villian - Kangana Ranaut
Comedian - Kangana Ranaut - the real and Deepak Dob-rial ! :-P
Fight Scenes - Kangana Ranaut
Supporting Actor 1 - The ever dear Madhavan
Supporting Actor 2 - Jimmy Shergill
Supporting Actress 3 - Swara Bhaskar ''

So the movie begins from where it stopped in part one.. a happy married life is falling apart in 4 years since tanu, the wife is termed hysterical and being a bubbly lass finds no excitement in the life with mannu sharma, played by the ace! Madhavan. From there begins what can be called a roller coaster ride through the lives of all the 4 main characters.. tanu, manu, avasthi ji :-P and the other kangana persona - kusum.. 

its a hands down hit performance of kangana as kusum.. her career best so far! i may sound biased as am yet to see Queen :-).. will do so soon..but she is a lady whom the promo guys rightly termed.. the be all end all of the movie! She does not need the khans to step her up the ladder.. She is enough by herself to get her up through the box office.. Kangana - while saying that ..muah to you..Dont know if you will ever read my words. But you are the Amitabh bacchan, you are THE Rajinikanth! and you are The Kamal..oh no.. no ways.. Today's kamal sure needs to take Character make-up lessons from Kusum.. Tvadde naal tuisan daidesu meri jaan.. kamal aanu beddaa paar hogaasi.. 

Through out ..just through out the movie.. from the point where kusum enters the scene! all you will do is watch her athlete's physic from top to toe...watch her lips moving in the most chastest..if there's a word like that.. hariyanvi you would have ever heard!! Oooh ..my..ooh my.. kangana..you are the HERO of today's cinema!! wooddekh kabootarrrr!!! utthe dekh kabootarr!! lo uppar kabootharrr!! and jhatangggg.. you get rid of your predator :-P ..lol.. brilliant screen play..

Sharma ji..a.k.a.. Mannu Sharma.. Whatta lovely performance..What subtle romance.. ssssss.. heart melted whenever he looked at kusum with that subtle love in his face.. his face , his eyes.. portray what he does not speak.. a very few actors have that ability! 

Today's exclusive interview of Amitabh Bacchan by Arnab Goswami , i have to mention for a big reason.. Amitabh takes her name all by himself and is himself in awe of kusum's role..he was so right! KANGANA WAS NOWHERE IN KUSUM. it was KUSUM the character.. completely no KANGANA.. an ability very few handful actresses had and have in the entire history of Indian Cinema.. from inside out she looked different , spoke different dialect completely.. mannerisms were splendid! Beautiful character sketch by the script writer! 

I deliberately have not delved about the first kangana , the tanu of it all.. uff.. you go and see for yourself , her batman karnaamein!! She is too entertaining.. 

Music could have been better.. i would have loved Pritam's music in here, the jab we met feel somewhere lingered for me!! ..Not a great job by krsna solo. Music may have been decided upon keeping in mind the hariyanvi melody in mind..but it was just cooing a lot all the time whenever there were comedy scenes :-) 

Avasthi ji..(Jimmy shergill) at his best as always! he's a handsome package on screen all the time! 

Himanshu Sharma does it again with TWMReturns.. after TWM1 and Rhaanjana.. he's a guy to look forward to.. Absolutely crisp dialogues.. 

The best 2 i loved were tanu's - ''Haalath dekhi hai? adrak ho gya hai ye aadmi!! kaheen se bhi badh rahaa hai!! ''

and

again tanu's - kya sharmaji, hum thodi bewafaa kya hue aap tho badchallan ho gaye :-P 

hahah.. but i hated the director for the way the movie ended.. lol.. 

TWMR - A MUST WATCH IN THEATRE kinda movie :-) 5 on 5 hai su..

Ab Jaao - Udhar Dekho Kabootarrr!!! 

:-)

A beautiful afternoon!

To be doing something that is ever so fulfilling is a blessing in itself... And if that happens to be a passionate hobby that gives you the much needed moolah.. thats like sone pe suhaaga.. more so with a recycle venture as mundane and as unique as Satthvam.. I have been having quite a few memorable episodes that i will always cherish..

A few days ago a lady called me up and mentioned that they have relocated back from singapore to where their roots belong.. here in bangalore.. and the first activity they wanted to do was to meet me and generally get to know about Satthvam and the work we do!! The lady maintained that she had no expectations, and no she was not going to give any orders or anything.. but just to get to know me and meet me and see my work...

That was humbling enough.. and after initial rescheduling..they come home last afternoon and what a lovely time it was together..talking about each of our lives and passions.. and how they wanted to see their son grow up in an indian atmosphere.. then comes the main subject and our heroine of the day! .. Rama Atthe.. a spinster, 77 years young at heart and hands!! What a crafter.. What versatility in knowledge in sewing and embroidery .. not a minute went boring in those 45 minutes they spent with me at home..

Apparently , she had got a part of her entire lifetime's collection of sizeable fabric left overs from her own sewing projects of her life time.. All of them in the family and friends circle rave about her and she's the universal Rama Atthe for one and all.. like Mr. Raman, Poornima's husband put it!

So much talent..so many ideas just kept flowing out of her like a river.. so full of health and heart.. My god..it was a revelation and a promise i did to myself when it was time for them to leave! that if ever i live up to my old age..i wish to die while crafting! doing my most favourite thing i love doing now! If you see, thats her secret of longevity.. at 77 not many are as hale and hearty and full of life as her! truly in addition to all the scraps filled in the duffel bag and the colourful wool n thread balls that Rama atthe has given away to Satthvam's cause.. I take away a valuable life lesson from her.. Just keep going on and doing what you love doing!

Of course she's reached a stage where she's got saturated with crafting and is busy being a social butterfly! at 77 yrs of age.. visits friends n family..stays in relatives homes a few days here a few days there.. spreads all the love and cheer and is back to her nest to her neice, poornima .. Amazing Poornima.. I will cherish your visit with your family yesterday! You made my day by showing your love for my work with satthvam!

Seen in the above pic are Vaibhav, the teenager kid of Poornima (far right), the lady of the day RAma Atthe and me.. What a sweet time she gave us all ..45 minutes of a fun filled run down the memory lane of her life! and many other things that were common under the sun for poornima and me! thanks poorni! and another lovely thing being you being my senior at BMS college wow :-)

Just when I was clueless as to what kind of threads to use for the Kantha quilts am going to try making.. Rama atthe's bundle of wool and threads are going to be coming very very handy! God and facebook sure make the right people meet at the right time and place!

All we need in life is an open mind , open eyes and open ears! you never know when opportunity comes knocking.. if you dont realise and take it in, it moves too quickly.. and like they say.. destiny will help those who are ready to help themselves.. no matter how much you might push a person to do something..unless she or he wills to do so.. no help can be best help!!

Review - PIKU - Hindi Movie - from the eyes of my 4.5 yr old..

Review - PIKU - Hindi Movie - from the eyes of my 4.5 yr old.. my review coming up soon ..

:-) 
So you have to bear with me for I am going to rave about the movie Piku in installments :-P... every now and then for the next few days.. here's one of the first ones ;-) watched the movie in INOX lido today... Anand , kids and me went to a theater to watch a movie after 3 long years!! last we went was Life of Pi! :-P .. so was a lovely time we will cherish.. the day ended with a surprise visit to moms..and the MIL in my mom was super thrilled to see her son in law after long time :-P .. 

Coming back to the movie.. now just before he slept and it was our routine good night hug n kiss time.. here's what Nakul the 4.5 yr old english professor of the house had to say about the movie
Me - Naku, so tell me did you like Piku 
Nakul - No, I did not like her
Me – oh but why? I loved her
Nakul – Piku kept shouting at her father
Me – Did you like Piku’s father
Nakul – No I did not like Piku’s father
Me – oh why ?? 
Nakul – He kept shouting at Piku so I don’t like him
Me – Did you like Rana chaudhry the car driver
Nakul – But he drove a taxi amma
Me – ok ok :-P taxi fine..
Nakul -  No because he kept shouting at Pikus father 
Me – did you like the sweet marundhu doctor shrivastav uncle
Nakul – he had a lot of circle curls in his hair..
Me – trying to control my laughter at the brilliance exuded by a podi payal.. 
Nakul continues – He was very nice , before (in place of because he uses this always – I have purposely not corrected since it sounds so cute :-P ) before he kept smiling all the time and he did piku’s father’s abbu alright ..

Me - wanting to hear more and more from him..but knew he was also getting sleepy.. asked one last one , so whom did you like the most Piku, or her father, or doctor or the taxi driver uncle..

Nakul - without thinking much - PIKU, i like her !!!

:-)

and the kid happily slept after a good night hug :-)

Shoojit Sirkar ! Brilliant job done!

Review - 36 Vayadhinile - a tamil movie

Review - 36 Vayadhinile - 

A movie produced by husband Surya, re-launching his stay-at-home-wife turned mom back into the movies!! It is a remake of 'How old are you' a malayalam movie which was Manju Warrier's come back movie incidentally..

Happened to see the trailor a few hours ago and the curtain raiser was so gripping that I had to watch it then and there.. thanks to internet.. finished watching the movie..Unfortunately indirectly i somewhere have supported piracy but I dont have the luxury of those 3 hours in a theatre.. hence, the make do and here's what I took away

What a re-launch... this is a repeat , yes of what Sridevi did early last year all re packaged.. but Jo, stirs up that fire in a mom sitting at home thinking she's doing justice to the family by loosing her dreams.. read on!

a movie for this decade! .. a movie for every mom who has quit her job to take care of her family , a movie for every mom who puts family first and has lost her dream in the process..

Heres what i took from the storyline!

put your family at par with your dreams! Dont loose them! Your dreams matter too! You have a life to live too! outside the house in a way.. read - linked to the outer world , outside the 4 walls of your comfort.. Don't loose that connection in the process of your mommitude to your family

thankfully , my 6 hour sleep calls me back.. smile emoticon Miles to go before we sleep is something i can't help write here!!

Well done Surya! Brilliant Acting by Rahman and Delhi Ganesh sir, ofcourse Devadarshini and Abhirami were superb..

36 Vayadhinile - A MUST WATCH FOR HUSBANDS OF STAY-AT-HOME-MOMS-WHO-QUIT-THEIR-JOBS-TO-RAISE-YOUR-CHILDREN N take care of your home!!!

A song dedicated to all moms I know!

Here's a song dedicated to all you moms donning different roles day in and day out, as a mom, daughter, DIL, working professional, business entrepreneur..

Whenever you feel low am sure this song shd pep u up :-)

https://soundcloud.com/vidya_r1/kahan-tak-yeh-man-ko?fb_action_ids=1555222384751410&fb_action_types=og.shares