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Fan Forever... Rest in Peace Adi

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  27 March 2004 . It was a Saturday. The day of Chaitra Chhath , an extremely pious day for the natives of Bihar,  Jharkhand and Eastern UP, when they offer Arghya to the setting sun as well as the rising Sun.  That's when he, a descendant of the family of Sage Gautam , entered this world of mortals. He was promptly named after the Sun God. Aditya . Destined to create a Leela and spreading a cycle of happiness, positivity and eternal optimism around him. Chosen by Him to be born to an Indian Army wife.  Aditya Gautam spent his childhood years all over the country among the Indian Army fraternity. By the time he finished his Class 12th, he had spent time in Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand, Jammu, Gujrat, Assam, Karnataka and West Bengal... and studied in eight different schools. The diversity of Indian Culture which he engrained in all these years developed him into an extremely adaptable and friendly young boy. His tall, fair and handsome personality only added to an in...
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Movie Review: Article 370

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  While penning my review of " Fighter ", this is what I had written in the Postscript... "Do not miss out on the timing of release. " Uri : The Surgical Strike " was released on 11 Jan 2019. And now Pathania Saab strikes the screens on 25 Jan 2024. Aggressive nationalism is the flavour of this month every five years. No points for guessing why." .... And the warming up to the election season continues with Article 370 . But first things first. Let me admit that I have spent a fair bit of time in Kashmir Valley... and I have also read a lot about Kashmir (from all perspectives). A lot, means actually a lot. So I don't need to enter into any debates with anyone to say that Article 370 should never have been there in our Constitution. But since it was there for some reason, so it needed to be confined to history. And hence, irrespective of my political preferences (which I never discuss on social media), this particular act of abrogation of Article 370 o...
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Movie Review : Fighter

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  When the Indian Army's surgical strikes had its share of onscreen glory with " Uri : The Surgical Strike " and Maj Vihaan Singh Shergill , could Balakot have been far behind? So here we are presented with the Indian Air Force and Squadron Leader Shamsher Pathania aka Patty . The Special Forces Para Commandos are replaced by the be-all-end-all Air Dragons. But first things first. " Kaho Na.. Pyaar Hai " came in 2000. 24 years later, Hrithik Roshan still drools you with his tall fair and handsome aura, bear-me-if-you-can abs, those absorbing hazel green eyes, finely chiselled jaw line and basically that Greek God looks.... Enough to cheekily accept that when he says " please " to a lady, she is bound to go in a trance... And he is doing it as a weapon of surrender here for ladies!! You have enough of all this in the first half along with an engaging chemistry with Deepika which comes to life in short bursts.  Actually the first half is very engrossing....
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Movie Review : HanuMan

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"Baahubali" made us have a large than life look into the potential of movies outside of Bollywood, and made Prabhas and Rana Daggu household names....With "Pushpa", Allu Arjun entered into our drawing room discussions... "RRR" gave us Jr NTR and Ravi Teja...And now Teja Sajja is the new man in town. Young, unassuming, all of five movies old... The man to watch out for, though, is Prashanth Varma.... a Gurukul studied movie maker with strong beliefs in the ancient Indian History... If you ever wondered as to why our extremely rich ancient history cannot be adapted to super hero movies, well, " Hanu Man " is the answer. It mixes Superhero tropes wonderfully with original storytelling. So while someone like " Adi Purush " buckled under the pressure of being attached to mythology and God,  HanuMan  does not forget to have it simple, religious and funny at the same time. And that is the success of our Writer-Director Prasanth Varma, where de...
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Movie Review : Merry Christmas

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  Remember Johny Gaddar, Badlapur, Andhadhun... What do they all have in common ? They are all good movies who may not have raked in their 100s of crores but they were liked by the audience. And they are all from the stables of that underrated genius, Sriram Raghavan .  He is back after six years with " Merry Christmas " and has certainly lived upto his own genre and brand.  The movie is based on Frederic Dard's French novel 'Le Monte-charge'. The title of the French story literally translates as 'Dumbwaiter'. In English, the novel was known as Bird in a Cage. Both a freight elevator and a trapped avian are relevant analogies in the context of the tale that Merry Christmas locates in the Christian community of 1980s Bombay. Two strangers meet on Christmas eve, become familiar and friendly... And what follows thereafter in next 24 hours is classic Sriram Raghavan stuff. The first half will appear pretty run-of-the-mill with 'boy and girl next door kind...
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Santa, Christmas, College and Nainital

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बात दिसंबर 1995 की है। हमारे हिंदू कॉलेज में सर्दी की छुट्टियां हो रखी थी। और हम लोग हॉस्टल में ऐसे ही वेल्ले तफरी काट रहे थे।  अच्छे से ध्यान नहीं है, पर शायद जेब में इतने पैसे नहीं रहे होंगे कि उन छुट्टियों में घर जाया जा सके। छुट्टियों में अगर आप अपने घर नहीं गए हो तो हॉस्टल में एक अलग तरह का सन्नाटा होता है। क्योंकि आपके अधिकतर साथी छुट्टियां मनाने घर जा चुके होते हैं, और जो थोड़े बहुत पीछे रुके हुए होते हैं वो भी दिन में कहीं ना कहीं बाहर निकल जाने का बहाना ढूंढते हैं... और दिल्ली में ऐसे बहानों की कमी कभी रही नहीं।  तो हम लोग पड़े हुए थे ऐसे हीं। दिन में किसी कमरे में, शाम को किसी और कमरे में, और रात को किसी और कमरे में। समय निकालने का बहाना ढूंढते हुए। 'हम लोग'...  मतलब ?? मैं, पिंकू, सांटा और संजय पांडे सर।  पिंकू और मैं, बिहार के एक छोटे से शहर बोकारो के रहने वाले थे और एक अच्छे भविष्य का सपना लिए कक्षा 12वीं के बाद दिल्ली आए थे।  नाओरेम सांटाक्रूज सिंह, यानि सांटा, उसी भविष्य की तलाश में मनीपुर के काकचिंग से दिल्ली आया था। संजय पांडे सर हमसे एक वर्ष सी...
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Good Bye Tiger

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  Coursemates in the armed forces are a strange breed. Young hooligans thrown together by fate, and bound together for life,,, someone said. The days and nights spent together in the Training Academy all those years back, have forged a bond so strong, which no family or friend can replace. The agonies and the ecstacies of our training have ensured that.  Today, I may not have met some of them for last 25 years; but one call on mobile from any of them in any part of the country, is enough to transform you into a different person.  Wives have come to understand it. Children try to decode it.  Karanbir was one such youthful chatterbox. Tall, fair and handsome, he was from the Dhadiala Natt Village, situated close to Batala in the Gurdaspur district in Punjab.  We both had joined the Officers' Training Academy (OTA) Chennai, right out of our Colleges, in the autumn of 1997. We were young and shared a dream of serving our nation through the Olive Greens. Being in th...
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