Author: farooq Page 35 of 45

The Problem called ME.

On November 26, 2013

One can never get completely empty. Neither our mind goes this way, nor our hearts. But there are times, when it’s all blank and even the fillers, which makes the emptiness go away or atleast help adjust to a bearable ratio dies down. Probably with too much work being the filler of late to ward off the empty vessel that my mind has become. Hard-work is what they don’t like, I suppose.

Wandering around with this new-found emptiness, I simply cannot decide as to whether look for the fillers or do something to change things altogether. I’d like to think, that I should focus on the big picture and so, a complete change is what I should seek. Is it?

Well, easier said than done. And tougher imagined and achieved. Or is it?

A long walk down the street, filled with noise. Noise, I don’t relate to. Laughs I despise. Looks which disinvite me from them. Overthinking my way towards the coffee shop, a bakery as many would call it. I rest that emptiness down.

Where have I come?

This wasn’t meant to end like this, this wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan which the puzzle I went ahead to solve. It looked so easy, almost enticing me towards it. Was this a trick, which seduced me into making me throw down everything I had, all on my face like this? Like punishing me for being optimistic or overzealous?

Kind of tough to put all this down into words, tougher to even correlate the pieces of the broken dreams shattered all across the floor on which I have been thrown upon. Maybe this wasn’t meant to be, maybe this was not the path that was to be taken, when the choice was to be made or maybe it’s all part of a mistake for which I’m being made to pay. My choice. My mistake. And my payments.

“Maybe” is a confusing word. Maybe this, maybe that.

Well, not just this, a lot of things right now are confusing.

I am the biggest confusion that I have now.

To me, I am my biggest problem.

But then, the only reason that makes me remain in my senses is; only I am my Solution.

The Micromax Story

By farooq

On November 25, 2013

In Others

The Micromax Story

Chinese mobile phones had just started coming to the Indian households. Cheap knock-offs of various high-end mobiles for costs cheaper than what the Indian market ever saw. There was actually a flood of these models. Now, for an Indian audience Chinese products may not be of the same value as it has for an American/ Europeon market, where China ships some of its fine quality stuff, but surely for a fad, when mobile handsets had just started bulking up pockets for the population, it gave them an option.

Around this time, some of the Indian companies too entered the fray, with their own addition to the existing competition in the mobile phone segment. Micromax was one of them. With a target audience catering to the low-income groups and the rural households, they based their value proposition out there, with extensive features vis-a-vis the big brands, of course with a low-price point.

Now, picture that time and contrast it with the most recent diwali advertisement of Micromax featuring Hugh Jackman. A complete change. And this just doesn’t reflect in their aspirations in terms of the marketing campaign, but the numbers speak for themselves. They currently hold the second spot at 22% market share. Commendable, the way they have grown. IDC’s (International Data Centre which tracks technology data) Q2 results compilation showed that the company had a 22 percent market share in the Indian smartphone market. While the revenue as of 2011-12 stands at Rs 1,978 crore or Rs 19.78 billion.

Hugh Jackman micromax brand ambassador

There are of course no quick and fast rules for this ascent. A number of factors have contributed to this growth, which are slowly propelling them onto bigger heights. Some of the notable reasons may be put may be put down to know how the micromax story shaped up:

1. Using china as a manufacturing base: Micromax took pains to mark out those manufacturers in China who were working with global brands like Apple and Samsung. For instance FoxConn manufactures the handsets for Micromax too now. This has put Micromax in a better position to compete with other big brand by ensuring quality products.

2. Rural target market: The primary target for Micromax was the rural market, which it catered to by arming itself with a 30-day long battery phone and dual Sim phones. Both of them were a hit and that too at affordable prices. This entailed them with a market of their own. It’s not that other established players like Nokia or Samsung didn’t cater to this market. But Micromax was laced with more features, which the basic phones of these brands couldn’t offer. The rural population which chose features at lower cost over brand value, turned out to be a good start for micromax.

3. Early android adoption: When others were dishing out new operating software, or continuing with the old one (Nokia with Symbian), Micromax lapped up the opportunity of using Google’s Android. This helped them target the youth market in a better way. The aspiring youth, who couldn’t afford the high end Android devices, were targeted.

4. Product rollout: Where big international brand requires roughly 18 months for a similar product to go through the retail pipeline, Micromax takes barely a month or two to launch products. This has ensured that variety as well as new-technology adoption, which helps offer the customers something new regularly. Even the Canvas series, which has been selling like hot cakes, has helped it to scale up the brand value and reposition itself as not just a “cheap handset maker”. The pricing strategy adopted for this has helped it a lot too. The products, even its’ high priced Canvas are lower than Samsungs’ Galaxy series.

5. Promotional campaigns: It has targeted Cricket and bollywood as the basis of promotions for itself, which is directly catering to the Indian market as it is these associations, which has garnered it the visibility and also helped it shed its image of a Chinese phone to a Brand on its own. Recently it associated itself with a fashion show, where designers used its latest Canvas Turbo with full HD in the designing of their apparels. Of late, it has relied on premium associations so as to continue re-positioning itself, and shed its’ long standing image of a low-price player.

Micromax has definitely repositioned itself and established a force in the mobile segment. Although issues like labour wages in china are proving to be a roadblock to its supply chain strategy costs , the LED Tv which it manufactures in its Gurgaon plant is surely a stepping stone and a probability that it can shift from china to India, provided with the appropriate build-up of its’ infrastructure environment.

That is all about the micromax story for now.

Gori Tere Pyaar me :My review

By farooq

On November 22, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena kapoor, Shraddha kapoor, Anupam kher

Director: Punit Malhotra

Runtime: 148 minutes

If you plan to go for “Gori tere pyar me”, than prepare yourself for a double trouble of having to watch two movies in one., with both of them terribly made, of course as Imran khan graces both of them. If your idea of watching it as a Rom-com is what pushed you to a theatre then, surely that is going to put you to sleep.

The story is about Sridevi (that’s’ what our hero is called by his ladylove while he’s named SriRam), who returns to India from USA with an American lifestyle, and a never-to-care for family attitude and a total wreck at that. Falls in love with an extreme over-the-top social activist, Dia (Kareena kapoor), who is obsessed with her social work, so much so that she fakes to be a pregnant woman just to clear out the traffic and of course, even goes ahead in helping out a village come to terms with its development needs.

There’s an old looking hardcore-activist (kareena) with a boy (Imran), who never seemed be learning the trait of something called acting. The story revolves around Imran, and the major reason this ship sinks thanks to him too. He’s like a lost kid in every frame that is captured, be it with his Tamilian parents (who always speak accented hindi) or with Kareena, where he acts like a school kid coming to terms with a relationship with a woman. Scenes involving Shraddha kapoor are somehow mellowed down, thanks to the girls’ down to earth acting in a tam-bram girls’ role. Kareena seems to have put in very little effort and is kind of a happy-go-lucky approach in her role.

Songs are loud and may be great for the dj-nights being put up in various discotheques but sadly, you hardly have any good music coming out of it. Vishal-Shekhar didn’t seem to have invested too much thought on this, I guess. Some songs, even remind you of similar tunes. (Plaigiarised ? ).

Dialogues are neither funny nor romantic, but surely there are many which will have a facepalm effect. Direction by Punit Malhotra is worse than his previous outing in “I hate Love story”, where misplaced priorities through the script, makes it worse for him. The story could have been cut short, rather than stuff in too much in almost 2 hours 30 minutes, and the casting could have been given a little more thought upon.

The movie tries to complicate and advances itself onto many routes, which basically is copying other similar movies of the genre and being shoved into this new bottle. It’s boring and lousy, with some terrible piece writing and a bit long for a Rom-com which it was supposed to be. I’ll highly advice you to not waste your time running after the two “Goris” in the movie. One of them being Imran khan.

I’m going with a 1.5/5 for this boring rom-com.

[wysija_form id=”5″]

Taking care of Children..

By farooq

On November 19, 2013

In Fiction & Poetry

“Get up beta..It’s time for school” was what Ravi’s mom kept shouting early morning. I could hear the pitch fluctuate as the minutes passed by. I couldn’t see him getting ready for his day to school (not that I wanted to), but could paint a picture around what his mom was telling him to. From making the 10-year old take bath and cajole into using soap, which he doesn’t seem to like or changing the dirty smelling socks from his shoes, which he didn’t took out yesterday after coming back and numerous other things which would make the kid be clean and tidy, and all set for school. Mother’s take such great pains to make their child remain clean. It just throws me back, into my school days.

I was sipping my morning coffee and enjoying the morning chirpings and musings on whatever my eyes could make me watch, or my ears listen. Just before the day for working population starts, the mothers at home get on with their business of getting their kids ready, just before their school bus/auto-rickshaw comes by blazing the horns, with a full pack of kids thrown in like courier to be delivered to the same address.

The horn blazed across the street and kids from our apartment, along with their mothers ran to hop onto the seats. Ravi also dashed down with his mom, looking all excited to see his friend reserve a place for him. It’s all there from the beginning, reserving a place for your friends, no matter where or how you are travelling. Brushing amidst every other kid, Ravi hopped in to go to his “reserved” seat, and from afar as I could noticed just when the bus was about to start, his both the kids were peeping into each others’ lunch box. Perhaps, comparing what all they would exchange during the lunch break. Obviously, in case if it remains intact till that time. Kids, you know.

school bus

“Hello”, said Ravi’s mom, on my adjacent balcony. This was almost like a routine every morning when both of us greeted each other and exchanged our pleasantries. Neighbors you know. Actually, I was new in the apartment, and most of the people in the building were being nice to me. “Hello Bhabi, chala gaya Ravi school?” was what I replied back. Not that I didn’t knew nor had doubt, but just for the sake of conversation, this was what I said. “Yes, he went. Getting him ready for school is a job in itself. He just doesn’t listen to anything I say. To just keep him clean and be healthy, is one of the toughest things I have to do at home, you know.” And she went on. There’s this thing with women, you just have to start off and then they would carry on describing their daily grind.

“And to top it all, there I have to make sure he doesn’t get sick.” She added. “well, the weather is such kids are getting sick Bhabiji “, I sympathized with her. At least tried to.

“Oh yes, indeed. But thankfully, I do take care of him. Actually it’s Chyawanprash that helps him, to fight all that. And the immune system of children isn’t that developed, so we have to take extra care for them. So many bacteria, viruses, etc are there these days, you know”. I knew about the immune system, but the “so many bacteria, viruses” sounded like there’s some shop selling these.

“But which Chyawanprash to choose, there are so many of them in the market. Which is the best one?” was what I was compelled to ask.

“That’s easy, Chyawanprash means Dabur Chywanprash, nothing else. And this one comes especially for kids as well, Ravi ko wahi khilati hoon”

I just wondered as to what all other women must be doing with their kids.

“Achaa chalo, ab Ravi ki papa ke lie breakfast banana hai” and with this our morning conversation ended like any other day. I closed down my gate for a walk and took my wallet, to buy myself Chyawanprash. Not that I was a kid, but then who wants to get sick? So, many Bacteria and viruses roaming around you know.

This post was written in association with Indiblogger for Dabur Chyawanprash

A Lost kid…

By farooq

On November 18, 2013

In Random Philosophy

Monotonous life. Confused soul. Pessimistic approach. Tough luck.

Throw them all in, and that’s how I might define the bag full of specifications that the package called life brings along with it. Throw in some terrible mood swings and you have the perfect recipe for an eventual disaster waiting to happen.

I might sound a little out of sync, maybe a little too whiny as well but that’s how the truth is trying to pour out. Lucky enough that there is only a leakage, otherwise it may burst out and spread the whole mess.

Difficult to paint a picture through words, and if I try to do that, chances are you might not like the painting. But then, who am I kidding ? I’ve actually stopped giving a damn!! Unless of course, you happen to be from my family, and if you are reading this, I’m sure you aren’t from there.

Would have added an apologetic sorry up there, but then I ask myself, why should I? I stand to receive more than a dozen of them but have no doubt that I won’t get any of them. Yes, I do expect a lot from people. High time, I start that with myself.

Not that I didn’t tried, I did. I effing did. Worked my ass off, to get things done. To make things happen. Finally learnt in to do what they refer to as “Hard Work” to get what needed to be achieved certain things. But well, the results make me realize it was all full of crap. Not the hard work, but the naïve thought of results coming my way. Well, dunno when that stopped. But sure did some time back.

Things are starting to get so boring that blaming myself for all this doesn’t work either. It’s all so lame to find excuses. And man, I am running short of them. Speaking of running short of things, I can have a long list of things which should have been there, had things fallen the way it was planned. But ohh, plans?!! Who am I kidding? They don’t work for me.

I’m like a kid who is lost in zoo. A big zoo. Trying to find my way out, but have got so tired that I just sit around to take a little rest. Problem is, the “rest” part seems to be getting extended continuously with the sun going down. Its’ getting dark too. And the kid is scared. The end part of not finding a way out scares him. Not that he isn’t trying to find a way, but then he is just a kid. He did tried running around, foregoing his rest, not caring about how tired he was, or how thirsty or hungry he was, he just ran around searching for the way out.

That kid is tired.

But still trying to run around to find his way out.

Trailing down…..

By farooq

On November 17, 2013

In Random Philosophy

Inconsistently cursing the cravings which led me to where I currently stand in the palindrome of a complex phenomenon called life, I simply wonder as to why certain things take precedence over the others. The jumbled up priority list which springs up surprises, and not necessarily in a manner which I can refer to as decently good, if not great.

One time, I feel as if riding an air-filled tube down one of those amusement park rides where I have no control over what is happening. I am just forced down the ride with my own expectations of joy and amusement, but all along a small prayer rushes down to return me down to the ground with every body part intact. Yes, there is fear.

But unlike the amusing water-coaster ride, where I can shout my lungs out and expect myself to be down there exclaiming the captured adventure with a rush of blood, life continues to be a long ride with no surety of the end result or promise of any retrospective “oh-that-was-fun” in sight. It just goes on and on.

I do push hard to make the trail down as smooth as I can, following the protocol of societal pressures have never been my cup of tea. Not a tea person too. But have pushed hard enough to put in changes. Now, whether those changes have worked or not remains to be seen.

They say there is something called confidence, which has been washed down along the course of this trail down under, and with hardly any uplifting of sorts in getting it back together, just continues to wash itself out with the water along with it. Not just because of my neglect to hold it, but with the constant rough patch that continues to over-shadow each and everything. You hold onto one thing, you lose another. How big a hand I need to hold onto it all?

There’s nothing called stability which resides here in my heart. Words like Serene, calm, relaxing are mere goals which I run after, without being able to catch hold of even one. They are like the flags on top of a summit which invite me, but just when I show up, kick me hard in my nuts and enjoy watching me fall down from it.

Back when I was at my optimistic best, as to how everything will finally fall back into place and there will be peace, appears to be a fairy tale now with only the nightmarish thoughts of where I’m gonna end up? Or where will this shit take me to?

As I referred to my constant tries of pushing to make things happen, some lethargic attitude holds it back anyway. The most prominent questions that props up is, “how I’m gonna put all this shit of life together? “

Answers are what I seek and more questions boomerang my way to doze me off again, and when I woke up to the same shit again. The one thing, I again make it a point to exclaim, “I need to get my shit together”.

Goliyon ki Rasleela…Ramleela: My Review

By farooq

On November 15, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Runtime: 160 Minutes

Romeo and Juliet has been an alltime favourite for ages, varied adaptations have been featured in numerous movies. To this list one can add another name, Ram-Leela or as they were made to call it, “Goliyon ki raaslela..RamLeela” . Actually they couldn’t have defined the movie in more apt words. This fits perfectly. If you throw logic out of the window and adjust with the fact that the movie isn’t set in some different era, you may scrape out of this 3-hour long drama without a headache. It’s grand, colourful, sensuous with a violent beckdrop. Deepika padukone mesmerizes you with her looks and a little acting, while Ranvir singh looks confident, but only if he had limited his acting to not go overboard. Unlike other movies, the second half is better than the first only if you could hold yourself onto your seats.

The story is about a village with two arch-rival clans in Gujarat, who have been fighting among themselves for the last 500 years. No points for guessing that the lead pair belongs to the opposite teams, but ultimately fall in love. But it isn’t that simple, the love story is the thread that binds the violent clash and the dilemma involved in trying to get rid of this enmity, which is a lost cause. Its’ filled with drama in every sense, and all the possible tricks in the “book of dramatization” (if there’s any like it) has been used, so much so that you might mistake some of the scenes to be straight out of an Indian Soap opera.

The lead pair of Deepika and Ranveer has a very sensuous chemistry, which makes the story not turn on to be a totally boring affair. The script gave them the luxury of enough leg space to spread their legs out in this comeback vehicle for SLB. Other characters, like Supriya Pathak do infuse a certain degree of effort, but its’ all below the surface and the only thing which shines out are Ram and Leela. Perhaps, that’s what SLB wanted to. Although it is to be mentioned, half of the credits have Bhansali’s name with them, along with being the Director.

The music has been incorporated wonderfully, with songs every now and then, but then that’s what you expect from a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie. The song-dance sequences are grand and colorful, with regular reminders of Bhansali’s Hum Dil de chuke Sanam.

The problem with the movie is the length, draggy first half and is somehow like the Gujrati-version of Ishaqzaade, which itself wasn’t anything totally new. But yes, the chemistry between the lead pair and the sensuous Deepika is not just a treat to watch but its’ she who anchors the Ram-Leela ship along the process.

I’m going with a 2.5/5 for “Goliyon ki rasleela, Ram-leela”, a one-time watch where a little patience would come handy.

The Placement scenario

By farooq

On October 24, 2013

In Others

The placement scenario…

Some 8 years back if anyone told you that Managers from b-schools are hot property, there’s no reason you wouldn’t have believed him/her. A 2-year course and a fat pay-check at the end of it, from a list of choices at their disposal, they bloody ruled the job market.

Then 2008 happened .Things have never been the same again. Lehmann brothers not only affected the US economy and had a cascading effect on the world economy with the Indian Software boom directly getting affected because of it, and ultimately the Managers were never got their glossy positions back.

From then to now, it was not just a result of faulty economic planning and complacency but a serious issue with the Skyrocketing Oil prices that added to the woes. Many parameters with varying magnitude changed a lot of economic equations and predictions. Pink slips became as common as any other jargon, being used quite regularly.

From 2008 to 2013, in 5 years what has changed?

Surely, the market went on a correction mode and ensured a little stability, but barring the year 2011, nothing substantial seemed to have happened in the Job market. The uncertainty still looms large as to what would happen when the final placement are completed.

There is a widespread difference in terms of opinions from across the b-school boulevard, while many believe that the recruitment companies would surely be visiting the campuses in order to maintain the relationship which they have developed with the colleges, even though there may be slashing in terms of the pay-checks being offered.

Another focus area has been companies adopting the approach to offer the interns pre-placement offers, instead of recruiting in large numbers. The benefit of course is that they are not only able to better judge the talent in the Internship period but also weed out any mistakes when it comes to recruiting the best talent. While Facebook has called up most of it’s’ interns from IIM-C for a pre-placement Interview, many other companies are also looking to work with their interns as well.

With around 4000 b-schools apart from the Old-IIMs, the problems are numerous. The IIMs may even scrape through the placement with 100% placements or at least 90%+ in the worst case-scenario, but where it might hit just bad are the lower-rung b-schools, as has been witnessed in the last few years. Even with most of the institutions keep stressing on providing “knowledge” instead of a sure-shot “placement”, yet for the kind of investment being put in, there is a rare chance that the candidates won’t be having the criteria of “placement” in their mind when selecting the college.

If industry experts are to be believed, many sound hopeful of recruiting “Good talent” no matter how bad the market situation is. Now, the variation in the definition of Good talent would end up excluding many of the “aspirants” who lack the kind of Industry knowledge which the recruiters are looking for. Now, here is the catch, as to how many won’t make the cut.

So, the three key issues that crops up include:

1. Old IIMs will bite into a whole lot of profiles which were only meant for colleges graded lower than them and hence increasing competition in those colleges to grab whatever comes their way.

2. Big batch sizes and the New IIMs which are up for placement may add to the woes.

3. Moderation of expectations are sure on the cards, where the expected CTCs are sure to take up a downwards trend, except some odd offers at old IIMs.

And some of the reasons which may be given include:

1. Election year- With the uncertainty as to who will form the next government and the policy paralysis that the present government underwent things in this election year adds up on the confusion.

2. Investment decisions on hold-Many companies have put their expansion plans on hold, either due to the prospect of changing government or even the volatile market situation.

3. Fear of the debt crisis – The prospect of Quantitative Easing tapering, Bond yields in the US have risen and there is a flight of foreign money from Indian bond markets to the US, which affects the overall economy and the sentiment in a big way. Negative sentiment means lesser investment, slower roll out of projects and hence lesser jobs.

Although there are quite a few positives which make you, put off some of the negativities

1. Growth in the new-age businesses like e-commerce: New-age sectors are slowly coming of age in terms of large recruitment with flashy pay-packages.

2. Increased number of Start-ups: The number of start-ups has increased over the last 3-4 years and which is a bright shiny spot in the dark times we live in.

3. IT sector: The IT sector has actually benefitted from the rupee-slump and looks a little more stable, which may further help the cause of recruitment.

There are positives and there are negatives too (a lot more, actually), but one thing is certain, the recruitment process would engulf only the talent which the companies actually require and won’t just be a number-filling exercise. So, buckling up to the demand and showing them the talent required by them is the way-forward.

The Platinum Moment…

By farooq

On October 22, 2013

In Fiction & Poetry

“Select all” “Delete” “Select all” “Delete” “Select all” “Delete” and the sequence continues. Sitting on a Sunday morning, with the Saturday night sleep being snoozed every now and then, one can easily judge the mood of Bhaskar, working his way through emptying the mailbox.

After the curtains tried to flow away, and the light tried to sneak in hurriedly through the cores of the unveiled window sills, it is then he decided to just close down the lid of his laptop and lay down besides her. The distance marked by an imaginary line, which didn’t require any army to keep it there, but only what was going in his mind. But he wasn’t alone.

Even Smruti was preoccupied with even stranger thoughts too.

It’s been almost six months since Smruti got married off to Bhaskar. “Married off” might sound some sort of trade, and even though they both consented to tie the knot with all the pomp and splendor associated with it, yet the iota of doubt already piled up could only be sensed by them both only.

Smruti, a cheerful young 24-year old, fairly cute and what they call naazuk, lived life without bothering about worldly affairs in a thickly populated neighborhood in Jayanti colony in saaddi dilli. A mohalle-wala affair, which couldn’t stand the test of time and compatibility, got over recently. With shadi-ki-umar approaching and parents standing on her neck, she had to let go.

Its’ no amusing that the filmi duniya does impact the life of our youth; Smruti’s dreams were all built with that caricature in place and regularly water those illusions too. But then dreams remained dreams. The mohalle-ka-launda went his way, and she had to stay there to weep her days out, before her parents fixed the match to a handsomely earning Engineer in Patna. The salary was handsome, not the engineer though.

Bhaskar, engineering at a mechanical plant in Patna, while his family stayed back in delhi, was eager to get married. Well, for a guy whose quest in life had only focused on tons of books and then machines, needed to finally get, what society says is “Life”. Junk food, and years of being in love with his window-95 through Vista evolved computer had not just increased the power of his lenses but also his weight. No wonder, apart from being called Bhaskar, his middle name or rather his more familiar name centered on the weight he carried around in fats. So, when a proposal for a delhi-girl came along, where he fell in love with just from the .jpg image that came down in his mailbox. She was cute. There was no way, he was willing to let her go.

Eagerness was what Bhaskar germinated, while apprehensions and simply adhering to what her parents say, Smruti waited.

They tied the knot.

Six months later, things haven’t changed much. Each night Bhaskar tries to make sure that he comes in a little late, so that they don’t have to talk much. So that she doesn’t look at him, as how cruel the god can be to tie her up with him. So that he could just avoid feeling miserable again.

It was that first time they met after being married; Her eyes just spelt it out quite clearly to him. Clear enough to know, the disgust and when a little later, described about how the marriage went through only because she couldn’t say NO. The shutters of the newly inaugurated dreamland store of Bhaskar at Patna, just closed down. Each passing day was another exercise to just keep on moving by just ignoring the reality. Living under the same roof, without being together and yet continuing with it. Well, if stats for the same would be known to public, they won’t

Bhaskar went to the plant. Smruti, roamed around the house and with nothing better to do, switched on the TV. Browsing through the channels she saw news flash of a plant in patna which had a major accident, 100s were feared injured and some dead. And just then the phone rang.

She picked up the phone, “Madam.. yahan sir.. madam.. hello .. hello..”

She dropped the phone and ran away to get the taxi, and with it to the plant site dialing Sameer’s mobile number, without getting a reply. Paying up the driver and stormed around the site, searching.

Her eyes, wandering around to look for something.With all the rescue work and people moving around, they all acted as a veil which she was constantly trying to put off. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Eyes still searching for him.

For Bhaskar.

And then she finally caught him. Both of them looking at each other from a sizeable distance, sizeable and yet his size giving her the relief that he’s fine. The distance seemed to have vanished. Limping across through the site, he walked towards her. She walked too. Her eyes looked different. They had finally found it. Their platinum day of love.

This post is written in association with Indiblogger for Platinum day of love Contest.

Shahid: My Review

By farooq

On October 18, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Raj Kumar Yadav, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayub, Prabhleen Sandhu

Director: Hansal Mehta

Runtime: 123 Minutes

Gripping you to your seats, with each scene appearing as if just out of the real life of Shahid Azmi, reality just takes a solid transformation and Raj Kumar infuses amazing strength into the character, making you relate with him like never before and all this without compromising on anything, and just displaying great clarity in thought, Shahid is a hard-hitting take on the life of a lawyer, which surely is one of the finest movies of this year.

“You are acquitted of all the charges, and the court is extremely sorry for everything you and your family suffered in the 2.5 years of you being behind the bars”, the court declared when Shahid Azmi was released. This was what became his mission, post becoming a lawyer, to bail out all the innocent Muslim youths’ out of the jail who have been arrested under TADA, same as that of him.

Hansal Mehta( Who directed part of dus kahaniyan) has taken great care in not dramatizing even one bit, and just simply makes his actors bring out their best to be portrayed out on the screen. The casting is perfect, from the protagonist Shahid (Raj Kumar) to his elder brother who supports him in each of his decisions without questioning him for a second time (Mohd zeeshan Ayub of Ranjhanaa fame) and Shahid’s client-turned Love interest turned-wife (Prabhleen Sandhu) and their simple love story and the conflicts from time to time, have been beautifully captured the way it is meant to be.

The family-life, from where Shahid grew up, when he went to jail, returned and even got married, has been portrayed the way it actually happens and not over-dramatized to punch it up and that is the beauty of Shahid. It grows on you, scene by scene. The jail-time Shahid is part of, becomes livelier due to the presence of Kay Kay Menon, who carves out the perspective of Shahid to resume his studies and he comes of age to become a lawyer striving for the innocent youth and the judiciary which simply ends up manufacturing more and more terrorists.

There are not one, two or three things for which you need to watch this masterpiece. Its’ simply a story, something which makes you ponder over a lot of things in the system and empowers you to at least think, that you should do something for the system too. A system which needs to breed equality rather than injustice based on a name.

I’m going with 4.5/5 for Shahid. It’s simply a masterpiece.

[wysija_form id=”5″]