A style-laden book launch...

Had immense fun in managing the launch of -

                                        

The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva

by Kareena Kapoor  with Rochelle Pinto

(First book under the much awaited Shobhaa Dé Books)

on February 6, 2013, at Shangri – La Hotel, Mumbai.The launch was studded with renowned names  such as Manish Malhotra, Queenie Dhody, Ramona Narang, Pria Kataria Puri,  Sheetal Mafatlal, Rashmi Uday Singh, Vikarm Phadnis and many others. Toast of Moet & Chandon was raised to celebrate the release and special Penguin hampers were given away to two of the most bebolicious/stylish women present in the audience. Do not miss to notice the style diva badges...

 The unveiling moment!

 The Style Diva!

 Sheetal Mafatlal & Manish Malhotra

 A chit-chat moment between the author and the publicist!

 Lets raise a toast of Moet  to Kareena's style diary

 Vikram Phadnis, Poonam & me

The Despicable Rapeublic

The Delhi bus gang-rape has re-instilled the horror in our minds of staying in a country, where major security problems are taken with a pinch of salt by the govt. NGOs and feminist organizations have been crying out for years to increase the security for women, to include sex education in the curriculum—to the ears of our indifferent government—filled with extremely misogynistic ministers who are in a way or the other, instrumental in violence against women. It has come to a situation now—that you sweat profusely when a woman from your family goes out of the house.

There is a need for a complete change in the attitude towards women. Women's commodification and the gender-bias approach in films, schools, and offices needs radical reform. And while that process is taking place, we need on-ground changes, such as better policing, change in the education system, and more.

Btw, sorry Mr. Katju – I know this gang-rape is not the only problem in India. But it reflects the upbringing of the people in our country, hence a graver problem. And the protest—unfortunately in this country, is important to get yourself heard. It’s not ‘hue and cry’ in vain.

What according to you is the solution? Death punishment for the accused? Stricter Laws? Social Change?

The Futile Walk

I walked foolish, I walked sane, I walked naked in the rain
I walked till eternity, little by little
For every step was a phase in itself
A phase of carefree tenderness
A phase of careful go-getter
A phase of bullied me
A phase of self-absorbed me
A phase of, me the rebel
A phase of evolution of thoughts.

The pace changed with every phase
Sometimes there was a desert of joy
Sometimes it was solitude my best society
I walked in a flock, guess I even left them behind
Some more joined and left again, cause nothing I had was truly mine.

I entered the land of known-unknowns and realized,
These are the ones I’ll have to walk with for years
They nudged me, I wanted to stop and rest
But there was never a choice, So now I walk with them
And am one of them and yet I walk alone.

I walk today, the scenery changes
Its morn, its noon, its eve, its night
I walk on the seen paths
And then come the unseen ones
And then the seen
And at times ones never known.

I walk through the woods
I walk through the streets
Through markets
Through theatres
Through brothel
Through taverns
Through corporates
Through houses
And I walk not knowing why.

I believe in NO
I believe in None

I believe-un-believe and Not believe at all
I don’t believe in you
Though you sound promising, and so I try to believe
Thus firm up my disbelief

I want to believe! Badly do
But the disbelief has taken over me
I am in the clasps of it and it teaches me to believe
Just believe! Just believe in disbelief.

A moment of belief even in myself would bloat me up
But disbelief in the other moment deflates my vanity, -
It questions my sanity. I believe-un-believe if I am sane or not
I question the belief of believing in myself.

You say you believe in me but do you believe in the belief of believing?
Yes, you believe in just being and leaving

Clinical Communication Skills

Clinical Communication Skills
Emerging Backhand For Designer Doctors

Dr Vivek Chhabra DNB, Faculty, Clinical Communication Skills, UK

Follow the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St6g04cVLf4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvHRvd0iX64&feature=relmfu


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9ov0EySlM&feature=relmfu


Thanks,

Aman :-),

Pyar ka Panchnama Review

I’ll begin the review of Pyar ka Panchnama with a slightly misogynistic statement. The movie should be prohibited for women. This is because if you go to this movie with a girl be sure that you’ll come out fighting.
The movie has shown the realistic situations but from the perception of a man or I must say you see the real situations from a man’s glasses. Surely the movie misses two sided opinion on the matter, but if you ask me two sided opinions are uncalled for at times. The beginning of the movie is fantabulous with Liquid’s superbly bone tickling, frustrated dialogues. The boys bonding and masti has been shown in a real cool manner. Rajat’s puking at every dhaba and commode after getting sloshed and Liquid’s shouting at every other person venting out his office frustration is highly amusing. The boys’ life is shown filled with fun, frolic and friendship until women enter their lives.
Rajo (Rajat) who is the charming lover boy starts dating a girl after meeting her at a Karaoke night. Rajat and Neha are shown as the conventional babu me – shona me couple. Rajo and Neha’s PDA and cuddling romance irks Rajat’s flatmates a little. Rajat wants to avoid it and so Rajo and Neha move into another flat together. Believe me their shifting together can run shivers down the spine of guys who are planning to move into a live-in relationship. Rajo is the one who has to wash all the dishes, clean the house, go out shopping with Neha for curtains and crockery missing the cricket matches, suffer her nagging and finally cuddle his babu. There is a little exaggeration in the presentation of this couple but is not too far away from reality either. The girlfriend in Rajo’s case has been shown as a nagging machine who at times would sulk on the things which Rajo wouldn’t even know. His pent up frustration is again vented out in a 5 min frustration speech which is extremely hilarious.
Vikrant & Riya: Here is a handsome dude and his hot-bod girlfriend who seems to be suffering with satyriasis . She is dating Chaudhary while she’s still not out of her ex-boyfriend. She has been shown to be sleeping with a number of other guys as well and finds it cool and flaunts it. At the same time the ex-boyfriend is still chasing her and sends her gifts and flowers also threatens Vikrant to leave her. He also starts stalking Vikrant. Riya goes to Varun’s (ex-boyfriend) place to pacify him when he is crying and succumbs into making out with him. Now to keep herself guilt free, she confesses this to Vikrant only to leave him in a fit of rage. This part of the story shows the changing norms of the society, as Chaudhary had accepted all of Riya’s previous sexual encounters and affairs but couldn’t accept her infidelity while she was with him. Also this part of the story shows that its' not only men who have been stereotyped as zombies, its time to take a look around and see that women do it too. Time for an egalitarian society :-)
Nishant & Charu : This is the perfect case of an office chick's exploitative tricks. Although Charu has a long-distance affair with a guy she is truly committed to. She needs a shoulder in the new town to adjust and enjoy. For this she woos a knave guy who’s not been much into girls before, Liquid. She makes him pay her beauty parlor bills, complete her office work, take her out to parties and tours. She treats Nishant like a page. The guy has been shown as an innocent puppy who follows the girl, despite of knowing that he is being exploited. The background music in which the whining of a dog can be heard in these scenes is amusing. The enlightenment dawns upon him only when Charu chides him like a cur out of her way, once her boyfriend comes back.
The story could be marked by a little degree of hyperbole but will never make you shriek out, “No it doesn’t happen!” Although the scenes when the women force to accompany men to go to Goa look a little incredible. Still the super hilarious dialogues, perfect timing of expressions make all the three actors babbar shers. The actresses have a done a great job too especially Ishita who plays Neha's part in the film. The movie has a great entertainment and information (;-) Wink) value. All in all a must watch for all the men!

Literary Review – 7 Khoon Maaf

Literary Review – 7 Khoon Maaf
Vishal Bhardwaj’s 7 Khoon Maaf is a giant leap in the domain of story telling in bollywood. Moving away from brainless movies such as Yamla Pagla Deewana or pseudo intellectual movies such as Dhobi Ghat, Vishal has shown the bollywood directors , how to do it!

Playing with an emphatic script inspired by Ruskin Bond’s short story Sussana’s Seven Husbands, the director has skillfully depicted literary symbols in the film. Breaking through the stereotypes of docile, beautiful movie actresses and macho, heroic male characters in Hindi films, 7 Khoon Maaf comes with an amazingly presented feministic approach. The movie seems to have derived it’s source from a number of literary geniuses’ works. One can draw a parallel between Susanna and Chaucer’s Alisaun (The Wife of Bath). Questioning the hush-hush concepts of monotony in conjugal relationships and enforcing Chaucer’s view, “Women desire what is forbidden and run away from what is forced upon them,” the movie has swayed the minds of intelligent viewers.

7 Khoon Maaf is laden with apt symbolism which makes it more of a drama, with realism acting as a catalyst - helping in the metamorphosis of drama. Any extra degree of realism would have tampered the entertainment and dramatic presentation of the film. The right usage of drama and realism has turned the story into a spectacularly credible one. Even before a doubt rises in the minds of the viewers the director answers the questions. Arun (the young admirer of Susanna) questions Maggie Aunty and the manager that why Saheb (Susanna) had to kill her Russian husband – Nikolai, which is answered by the manager when he dramatically recalls the dog killing episode from Susanna’s childhood. This immediately clears the scope of all doubts as it opens another approach - of delving into conditioning and psychology.

Bhardwaj is the master of the usage of literary symbolism in bollywood. The Shakespearean and biblical presentation of death bells was enigmatic. Amongst other biblical references are the, recurring depiction of Church for funeral and Sacramenting of marriages even for Keemat Lal (who was not a Christian) can be seen throughout. And doesn’t the name 7 Khoon Maaf insists you to relate it to the forgiveness of 7 deadly Sins? Then there are some obvious symbols such as the spider (which symbolizes entrapment) on the table when Sussana seduces Arun. The death bells are used just like the shrieking Eagle over Dolly’s head during her marriage in Bhardwaj’s previous flick Omkara. The gift book by Arun, “The Seven Wives of Bluebeard,” by Antole France and Tolstoy’s character Anna Karenin’s reference shows the team’s deep study about the subject. The symbolization in the name of Keemat Lal (Anu Kapoor) is the most pungent one Keemat Lal was the only husbad who Susanna doesn’t love hence the name Keemat was just the value being paid for escaping. Even the sex scenes here refer to bartering body for escaping legal probing.

The depiction of psychological theories such as sadomasochism in Wasiullah Khan’s sexual fetish, adaptation of masochism in Sussanna’s beating herself in front of the mirror and the final venting of repression in the murder of the nawab, won many a hearts. There is also a reference of Oedipus complex in Arun and Sussanna’s relationship as she admits that the need of a child for her was being contented by Arun. Whereas at one point she seduces him and throughout the film is fully aware of Arun’s romantic interests in her. Such mature attempt to even depict Freud and Lacan in the movie could only be done successfully by a genius. A movie such as 7 Khoon Maaf and Chakra (1981) are an add on to the libraries of the literature department of every University.