Dear Hollywood, Please do the needful

The idea of this post came from this article (which I recommend you read, I’ll wait) which lists “the [10] series that could occupy the Hollywood throne that King Harry [Potter] just vacated”. While I agree wholeheartedly with nos. 2, 5 and 7 on the list (haven’t read the rest), there are a few more book series I would love to see in movie or TV series format.

To start with, here are few of my picks:

Read Full Post »

The man who rebuilt Maratha Empire

After the death of Aurangzeb, Maratha Empire rose to prominence in central India. While the titular heads of empire were the Chhatrapatis in Satara, the military might was mostly concentrated in the hands of Peshwas (Peshwa/e = Prime Minister), the post made hereditary by Chhatrapati Shahu.

Madhavrao Peshwa, on whose life “Swami” (= Master) by Ranjit Desai is based, was the third Peshwa to inherit the seat.

Read Full Post »

TV Miniseries: Andromeda Strain

Perhaps it is the indication of how little known Michael Crichton’s first novel (as Michael Crichton) “The Andromeda Strain ” is – the 2-part A&E TV miniseries came and went without making much of a splash. Although, there may be other reasons for that (see below).

Read Full Post »

Currahee

“Band of Brothers ” by Stephen Ambrose belongs to that rare list of books which I read after seeing the movie, or in this case, the HBO miniseries. It also belongs to the rarer list where the visual representation is every bit as engaging and haunting as the written word.

Read Full Post »

Jagrit, Suvyavasthit Sahayak Part I

A bomb is ticking away, and there is no chance that anybody can diffuse it in time. Two brave officers volunteer to take it out in a helicopter and let it blast over the sea, so that nobody will get hurt.

Now if you think I am talking about a Dan Brown novel, think again…

Oh well, I am one of the people who (try to) watch CID every week, without cracking a smile (or cracking the TV, whatever). Trying to figure out which story (or show) has influenced the episode is a real nice fun. But when the officers start brandishing their weapons (I know, wrong choice of words) on the street and start firing across Mumbai streets in the middle of afternoon, even I feel something is wrong. Incidentally, one of the recent episodes was copied almost completely from “Murder on the Links” (Of course, the copy was not complete as the victim/murderer’s wife was not shown to be bound by the assailants).

Given the current condition, I felt it was necessary to have a review of tradition of great detectives we have had in India. Let’s start with the most famous of them:

Read Full Post »

Two-in-One Post (Or is it Four-in-One?)

Cross-Posted at Desicritics.org (my first post there)

A young man (I am speaking of ‘young’ in political sense) becomes a minister after years working for the party. When he takes charge of the department, he is faced with the Civil Service, wielding The Red Tape, who try to stop him from converting his dreams (of Open Governance) into reality. He almost falls prey to the system in his naivety, before fighting back with the (hidden) help of his trusted Private Secretary. In the process, he gets the coveted job of Prime Minister due (in true tradition of heroes) to a lucky chance and some conniving protagonists. Due partly to his increased standing in and understanding of The System, helped in part by his trusted Secretary and some mistakes on part of the protagonists, he is finally able to emerge triumphant.

Read Full Post »