Sheer brilliance!
Loved dear Amitabh’s rendition of dear ol’ Shakespeare’s loved protagonists, esp. mine personal faves from “King Lear”! :)
Lovely closure that made me revisit mine fave play by the dear Bard, “King Lear” (here, 4.6.45).
Great effort by dir. Rituparno Ghosh (and produced by Arjun Rampal) and team! Way to go! :)

Nothing short of sheer Brilliance!
Top-notch acting by the main cast & laudable effort by dear Aamir saab & team! Way to go, people! :)

Dear Satyajit Ray’s adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play, “Enemy of the People” (orig. Henrik Ibsen).

Liked how Satyajit Ray took the directorial liberty to give the (otherwise, a tad sluggish) play an optimistic closure ~ Lovely sense of Hope of better tomorrows for enlightened minds as Dr. Ashoke Gupta (orig. Dr. Thomas Stockmann) to keep believing in humankind. :)

http://www.satyajitray.org/films/ganasha.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy_of_the_People

A read of such terrifying pathos.. Couldn’t even begin to visualise some of the acts of some of the (more extremist-minded) characters, at some points.
And admittedly, there were parts of Hosseini’s novel that I was just telling myself i had to get through to reach what came next.

But, the novel is a recommended read surely, just for its beautifully poignant closure – that merits (almost) all of the horror that precedes the denouement.

A beautiful homage to the sheer courage and faith of womankind, in times that suffer from a dearth of compassion and humanity.

Brilliant movie, with an awesome plot & excellent main cast, methought! :)

Presented with loadsa heart, a beautiful narrative that weaves the story of a select group of people who chose to protect their future generations from the ‘outside world’ and its evils, yet..

And then, there’re the main characters who outshine the rest by their sheer Courage & Hope in their quiet hearts.. Beautiful effort, through and through.. :)

Brilliant! =)

Coursework. :)

Beautiful read.
Awesome, through and through.

mine quickie humble musings (not a review, per se) on this read, yea:

Having just finished the read, i catch myself deciding, again, that i (still) prefer dear lady Lahiri’s short stories to her novel.

Her prose is still as beautiful, and Jhumpa Lahiri shall always be the one who redeemed my loyal faith (and interest too, perhaps) in Asian American writers, esp. after a not-too-pleasant experience of reading Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things”. – An important note here though: I did enjoy Roy’s essays, replete with her sharp wit and candour, thoroughly. Definitely recommended to all friends. :)

So, although i felt that “The Namesake” is an okay read, to me, Lahiri still reigns as one of my fave authors who writes against a backdrop of the Indian diaspora, on vital (and beautifully real) themes as the immigrant identity, and its sensitivities.

An excerpt from the closing pages of Lahiri’s The Namesake (First Mariner Books: 2003, p.289):

“The givers and keepers of Gogol’s name are far from him now. One dead. Another, a widow, on the verge of a different sort of departure, in order to dwell, as his father does, in a separate world. She will call him, once a week, on the phone. She will learn to send e-mail, she says…
Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist…”

Take care all & Wishes, minerva
p.s. Btw, for those who are interested in Russian lit., do check out the sadly beautiful short story, “The Overcoat,” by Nikolai Gogol – the namesake from whom Lahiri’s protagonist, (Nikhil) Gogol’s name is borrowed. :)

Not a review, again – just my ‘lil musings on Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood.”

Found it a tad too hedonistic for my preference, but it does have its poignant moments too.
Was amused by how Murakami manages to weave everyday struggles into the novel, even whilst the (adolescent) characters are stumbling through their amoral quests for love and happiness.
Liked the part where the protagonist Watanabe grows fond of his friend, Midori’s dad, as the latter lay dying on the hospital bed.

Read the novel, ‘cos it was recommended by a dear friend (who’s a big fan of Murakami), and also ‘cos i’d kept bumping into the author’s name in reviews & bookstores.
An okay read. :)