Days 233 - 236 : It's All About Cinema!

A lot happened in the last few days, all revolving around movies. So here goes!

1) We finally released our Making video - i.e. behind the scenes for Pularum Iniyum Naalekal. Working on this has been so amazing - just to be able to relive the wonderful journey that is was!

2) We have been selected for the 2017 NEZ International Film Festival, Kolkata! The festival is only in Sep next year, but we already got our confirmation, so that's awesome!

3) I took an outing on my own (hasn't happened in ages) for what I love best - going for a movie screening. This short film called "Fall Bidding" by a friend was screened at the Blu Jaz Cafe on Bali Lane. I loved my walk through the curio shops of Haji Lane, I enjoyed the screening, I enjoyed the many lovely people of the cast and crew whom I knew from before, and I even ended up discussing the concept for a short film to my prospective actress! It was such a beautiful evening!

4) I realized that Pularum Iniyum Naalekal would be screened at the Delhi International Film Festival on the 8th of December, at 4:10pm, right before a Malayalam film "Pathemari", starring Kerala's biggest star Mammootty! Just to see the names of the two films right next to each other was nothing short of incredible! Sent me straight on top of cloud nine!

Rather filmy few days, but who is complaining!

264 more to go.

Days 218 - 220 : China again!

Yup, I found myself back in China, for the second time within 2 weeks!

The key highlight was the food this time. Our global CMO was in the town and she ensured the team went out for dinners on both the days I happened to be there.

On the first day we went to Mr & Mrs Bund on the Bund in Shanghai, which is like one of those super high end Michelin star restaurants or in my CMO's own words, "One of the best restaurants in the world!". And the food didn't disappoint at all.

On the second evening, we made our way to Chinese restaurant that specializes in the hairy crabs that Shanghai is famous for, also a Michelin star one, if I may add. I avoided the crab, but gorged myself on everything else that was laid out on the table, topping it all up with some Chinese rice wine (too strong!).

The downside was that I had a horrible experience travelling back because of continuous delay in the flight timings thanks to Shanghai's overcrowded airspace. But that was more or less compensated by the really cool Italian film I watched called "The Perfect Strangers"on the flight. It was a super low budget film - set over a dinner party and featuring 7 characters - but with absolutely brilliant writing, direction and performances. Loved it!

Thus wrapped up yet another, and hopefully the last for the year, China trip.

280 more to go. 

Days 205 - 207 : A Good China Trip!

It was yet another China trip with the highlights being (other than a couple of smooth work days) :

1) The Tamil film "Irudhi Suttru" which has what I believe one of the best female debuts on Indian cinema by Ritika Singh. The film is a well taken typical sports drama, but I was completely blown away by her performance. She was absolutely spectacular with her very natural portrayal of a foul-mouthed fisherwoman who takes up women's boxing. What more, she is not a Tamilian but can give all other South and North Indian actresses who make a mess of lip syncing in Tamil, a run for their money!

2) I managed to make about 10 pages of progress on my film script. Now I am officially stuck. I have the bits and pieces in my head but it is not flowing anymore. Time to take break, dream about it, and then get back when the time is ready.

3) I complete yet another book from the Inspector Singh series written by Shamini Flint. This time it was "A Calamitous Chinese Killing".

All in all, a happy Chinese trip!

Day 201 : Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom!

It's been a while since I mentioned any film here, but I watched this super duper hilarious Tamil film "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom". It was so hilarious that I realized it was a bad idea to be eating one's dinner and watching it because I almost choked on my food a few times! Totally made my day!!

299 more to go.

Days 180 - 187 : From Flu to Food to Festivals!

Well, what can I say. Just like that, another week whizzes past and am happily seven blog posts behind. So I am just going to stop pretending that I am going to continue this consistently for 500 days. As a famous Malayalam saying goes, "Nadannaal nadannu." or "If it happens, it happens."

So, let's see how it goes.

But I think I have a good excuse for the latest bout of procrastination.

After a really long time, I had caught a massive flu. Like the type that makes you want to do nothing but sleep, sleep and sleep. So clearly, blogging was the last thing on my mind.

But several awesome things did happen - so here you go.

1) I got notified that "Pularum Iniyum Naalekal" is officially selected for the online Cinema World Fest Awards. Next step is for them to announce the awards and post which the best of the fest will be screened publicly in early 2017 in Canada. So that's the 7th festival we have managed to get in!

2) I was stuck at home with the flu, so I used some of the time to write 50% of a feature film script. Yes, that's 51 pages of fresh, fresh writing of a brand new Malayalam feature! How exciting! I had been developing this idea for a while... I had a lot of situations super clear in the head but not the entire storyline. As I was nursing my running nose, somehow things fell into place and now all that's left is writing the whole script! (And of course, then making the film, but first things first).

3) We re-visited Lakshmi Narasimhan, my favourite haunt for several years but one that I had not been frequenting as much, and I got to relive the joy of an Andhra dosa (and of medhu vada and filter coffee... bliss!). Not once, but twice over the last few days. That was enough pampering for my flu-ey self.

4) I also enjoyed some amazing home made Sri Lankan Chicken Biriyani and Fish  Curry, which was nicely packed for me because I missed a party at a friend's place, again thanks to my flu. So there I was, digging away at some really good biriyani and curry at 1am!

5) Madam has a recent fetish for locking doors as she walks out. It's fine if one of us is inside the room, otherwise it's a bit problematic getting locked out. When she did it once, I scolded her, even though the husband was inside the room and we weren't technically locked out. But the husband readily defended her, thereby completely undermining my effort to make her realize it is the wrong thing to do. After a while he went out to a friend's place, and she locked another door. And this time, we were indeed locked out. Given the husband had such a strong opinion that locking people out wasn't a crime, I called him to ask for a solution. The conversation went like this :
He : Oh, you are locked out?
Me : Yes
He : Oh
Me : What do you suggest we do now?
He : Hmmm
Me : Well?
He : Oh I know!!! Get a knife...
Me : Excuse me?
He : Get a knife and poke it in, twist the lock and it will open.

Yup. My man, very earnestly suggested getting a knife and breaking in. As if this is a talent I am born with.

You may wonder what this particular point is doing here, but it astonished me so much (and later cracked me up so much) that I thought it should be here for posterity. And no, I didn't get a knife. I had anticipated this particular situation, so my super awesome self had already put spare keys in different accessible rooms.

6) But this amazing man also appeared on CNBC talking about his company Teamie, and completely rocked it! So proud!

7) For the first time ever, I actually completed a full round of a fitness program. OK, so it was easiest one maybe - the 4 week low impact Fitness Blender fitness program. I didn't do it 4 weeks straight, but mixed it up with yoga and dance in between, but at least am through with it, which is oh so awesome!

8) And last but not the least, Madam drew this!

The Fish

313 more to go.

Day 161 : Maheshinte Prathikaram!

That, my dear friends, is the title of a Malayalam movie that I have fallen head over heels in love with. Which is a rarity these days, given how most of them are all style and no substance. This film, the title of which translates to "Mahesh's Revenge", is a super simple yet super intelligent film. So much so that I keep watching parts of it over and over again! And it's the debut film of its writer-director Dileesh Pothan, how cool is that!

Today, am just happy that I finally found a Malayalam film, after ages, that I 100% adore! Dileesh Pothan has a fan for life!

339 more to go.

Day 154 : BFG!

Today we went out on a family movie outing - to watch The BFG, Th Big Friendly Giant. Given that it was directed by my all time favourite director Steven Spielberg, I had nothing to complain. And it was fascinating to watch Madam completely hooked to the screen for two hours. Clearly taking after her mom as a movie buff.

I loved the animation, the story, and really, just the Big Friendly Giant. He really was the cutest big thing.

From my first Spielberg film "Close encounters with the third kind" to the "Bridge of Spies" and now "The BFG", I shall always remain a die-hard Spielberg fan!

346 more to go.  

Day 150 : Multi-lingual Movie Marathon!

After a few meetings in the morning at the Shanghai office, I was on my way back to Singapore.

On the flight, I chose to watch a Bengali film called "Monchor" and a Punjabi film called "Ambarsariya". Even though neither was exceptional, I enjoyed both - they were engaging and entertaining enough and I was quite happy to have actually watched two films in languages that I usually do not watch.

So yes, today is for my multi-linguistic movie marathon!

350 more to go. 

Day 23: The Emirates Experience!

I enjoy long flights because it is my time to catch up with movies!

Also the Emirates was really awesome because it offered so many movies. Also their business class on A380 is really kickass. It comes with an iPad (even thought I didn't use because there was no need to), eat seat fitted with a mini bar stocked with drinks and a big bar towards one end of the business class seating with several fancy bites and drinks and even a little lounge to chill out in. It's definitely the best business class I have been on (Singapore Airlines A380 will come a close second) and once again, I sent out several notes of gratitude to the universe for making me so privileged to experience all this! 

I utilized the long flight (7 hours to Dubai, 5 hours stopover, 14 hours to Chicago) to watch a ton of movies. Here's all that I watched: 

1) Talvar (Hindi) : Good 

2) Kirumi (Tamil) : Good, even thought I don't know why Tamil films have such a passion for useless, unemployed heroes. 

3) Oru Second Class Yatra (Malayalam) : Bad 

4) Joy (English) : Good 

5) Sisters (English) : TBD, since I have only been through half of it so far. 

6) Nanum Rowdy Dhan (Tamil) : Good 

7) Masaan (Hindi) : Good, I suppose. I am supposing because while some of the performances are awesome, it is one of those films made to win at film festivals by exploiting fun topics from India that sell like hot cakes internationally such as poverty, corruption, casteism, sexual taboos and exotic backdrops (in this case, that of the corpse burning ghat in Varanasi). 

Clearly, I had a very productive, enjoyable trip to Chicago! 

477 more to go.