Thursday, July 29, 2010

Udaan - a review!

We watched ‘Udaan’ recently in the company of friends. Ever since I saw the trailers for this one, it has been there at the back of my mind wondering what sort of movie it would be and how would the story line be etc etc. Thankfully, it turned out to be a good watch. It’s a refreshing change to watch a movie that is not over-hyped or one that does not boast of a famous star-cast.

Basically a boy’s story of his relationship with his father, what made the two hour fifteen minute movie watchable was the fact of how crisply it was taken. Guaranteed some shots could have been cut out at the editing table, but overall, it was well paced. And it was not boring; which is again a good thing because offbeat movies have a tendency to get dragged. And in most cases it’s hard to recapture the viewer’s attention.

Coming back to Udaan, the one thing that stood out in the entire movie, at least for me, was the acting. Be it Rajat Barmecha who portrayed the character of Rohan – the son who aspires to be a writer but who is forced to work in a mundane job for his strict father, or Ronit Roy who played the father who expects his sons to call him ‘Sir’ and deals with them in a very detached way, or Ayaan, the kid who plays Rohan’s half brother, not to forget Ram Kapoor’s Jimmy, uncle to the children, each one of them have done justice to their characters. The movie tackles the underlying currents in every relationship that is portrayed onscreen, in a very subtle way yet manages to get across to the viewer the almost-broken links in each one of them. The son’s angst at being made to forgo his dreams and live with a father who is more of a dictator, his stunned expression at finding out that he had a half-brother whom he never knew existed, and the strained relationship that he has with his dad was brought out in a very natural way by the director. The father flaunting his authority over his kids, making them toe the line for everything and his justification for his behavior was done wonderfully by Ronit Roy. His whole character was personified by attitude and arrogance which made watching him act a pleasurable pastime.

Overall, one of the refreshing movies I have watched in recent times. A tumultuous story of relationships told in a very simplistic manner. Good watch!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Unemployed but not jobless!!

Like I keep saying in every other blog post of mine, it’s been a while since I landed here in Singapore. And ever since then, I have been on the lookout for a job. Yes! True! I have been looking for a job since the mid of June 2009. Little more than a year now! And frankly I did not expect it to be so hard. I mean, my resume is up there on all the job portals, and I keep updating it every once in a while. My resume has been sent to the majority of job consultants here in Singapore and no response. I apply directly on company websites; rake up contacts from among relatives, friends, long lost friends, and people whom I barely know just for the want of a lead or a contact. All that’s left for me to do is to go bang on company doors and beg for an interview. It has not come to that stage yet I hope! :-)

Earlier, during this past year, the frustration levels just kept mounting up, with every rejection, and hopes of landing a job but not getting one. My visa status is primarily to blame and there’s nothing that I can do about that for a while. I used to keep cribbing, get depressed and moody and generally not a fun person to be with when I get into these moods. Of course I did try to keep myself busy, but there’s only so much that you can do all by yourself. The rest of the time you crave company and even though I had few friends here, they were all working. Basically, while on one hand, life was going great on the other hand, it just plain sucked!

But now, things are a lot better… thanks to a whole lot of friends, new and old. Some event or the other keeps happening and I have met a few kindred souls who are in the same leaky boat as mine. We give each other company and it’s fair to say that the frustration and depression levels are way down now. Not to say that they don’t come by once in a while, raking up their ugly face! But from a point, where the very topic of not having a job used to send me diving down into gloom, it’s come to a stand where, now it’s the resigned acceptance and the fact that if not a job something else has to be done / should be done! Some decisions have been taken and let’s hope that all’s well that ends well.

Things are looking up now. Not on the job front. But on the keeping-myself-busy front. :-) There are a whole lot of new friends, some very wonderful old friends and a whole lot of stuff that I keep busy with. Dances, library outings, get-togethers, cooking experiments, game nights and the like… In the midst of all this, a bit of blogging and photography too. But applying to jobs and trying to land one is the primary concern and that is still ongoing… :-) I still crave for a job because I like working and being employed and I am good at what I do! I know that! And that confidence still pushes me on through bleak moments! :-)

Life’s looking good and busier now! And I hope something good happens on the job front too, sooner than later! :-)

Grahanam - A review!

It has been quite some time since I penned something on this blog, and even longer, since I wrote a movie review. But there is no good time ...