In Other Words - Jhumpa Lahiri (Book).

Book: 28/52
In Other Words - Jhumpa Lahiri
My Rating: 4/5

After reading a lot of fiction, I decided to pick up a non-fiction book, and fortunately came across this one in our library. And anyway, after reading two of her books (The Lowland & Whereabouts) earlier this month, I decided to give this one a try too. But I must say it was an amazing experience reading her personal account of a much-loved and acclaimed writer searching for herself in words. This was more like when she challenged herself to learn a new language, not only to be able to communicate but to write in it as well. And I guess this was the first book that she actually wrote in Italian, and then never stopped. All other works after this one she has written originally in Italian and had them translated by others, as she believes she will be betraying the language if she does it herself. Three years back, my favourite nephew (I have a few to choose from) moved to Finland, the first thing he was supposed to do there was to learn the language, because it was a must to find a job in his field. His struggle and the effort that it took him to learn, and especially the way he did it, by talking to everyone around initially in broken words and sentences, while some kept correcting him and others just turned and never looked back, Jhumpa’s experience was no different, but Italian is a much easier language in comparison to Finnish. On top of that, I end up reading this book while I too was contemplating learning a foreign language myself and picked up French to start with. After taking three lessons in the last few days, I am so excited about it, and the way she has captured her feelings in this one actually inspired me big time to not only learn it fully and not just learn it that much to watch movies, but I would someday love to learn French literature in its originality too, let’s talk about writing in it some other time. 

Of course, just like all her other works (so far, what I have read), they are more about an Expat’s life in a foreign land with its own challenges and all that, this one was no different. Born a British / American with Indian origin parents, she is neither accepted in America or Britian nor any of her relatives or friends take her to be Indian in India as well. Although she can speak Bengali and Hindi fluently, while her parents struggled with English in their own ways, she developed a proper American way of life too early, which again wasn’t acceptable to her parents; even in America, it was compulsory in her home to speak only Bengali. Now look at her dilemma, just like any NRI in today’s time, they are neither here nor there properly. But if her talent is to be praised (much due), she is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author with terrifically acclaimed books to her credit. And now she writes in Italian while living in London. But her obsession with Italian and the final result, as this book has to be praised big time, as her words (even the translation in English) just flow like honey and never gets boring for one moment. This book is compared with Vladimir Nabokov’s intensity and clarity for a startling act of self-reflection and a provocative exploration of belonging and reinvention. Now, that will be sent to me, Nabokov’s way, as I haven’t read anything from him, maybe I will start with his Autobiography, assuming he must have written one if this is how they compare her with him. 

Do let me know if you have read this one or any other Jhumpa Lahiri book that became your favourite. I am going to read The Namesake after finishing all her other books first. 

 

Forrest Gump - Winston Groom (Book & Movie).

Book: 27/52
Forrest Gump - Winston Groom
My Rating: 5/5

I must have watched the movie “Forrest Gump” at least a dozen times by now, and twice in the theatre, the first time when it was released, I was in Noida, the second time I watched it in the Pragati Maidan movie festival (New Delhi). And I must say, every time I watched it, I loved it more. Tom Hanks was totally amazing and in character as Forrest Gump, doing some idiotic things, but to the audience's shock and amazement, everything he touches turns to gold. Just like the love of his life, Jenny tells him at the very start, that whenever he feels he is in trouble, he should “Run, Run Forrest Run”. And that mantra takes him to unbelievable heights. On the other hand, his own mother doesn’t accept at any cost that her child was special, if you know what I mean. Now let’s come back to the main question, after all these years, after watching the movie so many times, I never picked up the lovely book by Winston Groom on which it is based. Winston Groom even partnered to write the movie too, making it not only visually delightful but leaving a lot of deep meaning in between too; it never loses the gist his terrific book offers. As the book cover rightly says, in P.J. O’Rourke’s words, that “Winston Groom has created the ideal citizen for the modern world - a perfect idiot”. The greatest strength of both the book and movie both is the way it is narrated by Forrest Gump himself and the satire behind almost everything he does or happens to him.

But as it is always the case, the book is far, far better than the movie and offers so much more character to Forrest and his story, right from childhood to the end, which I wouldn’t like to disclose for those who have neither read nor watched the movie yet (can there actually be someone like that?). The way his mother helps and raises him, on top of that, the way his life changes after Jenny comes into it and goes out of it pretty often to break his heart. Jenny herself has her own painful story to tell, and the small revenge that Forrest takes for her in the end was so heart-touching. How he ends up getting a college degree just by running in any direction, and becomes a world football (rugby) champion too, is a hilarious story. How many presidents he meets, how they all get killed, the legendary Elvis Presley's dancing steps to his travel to space and back with an Orangutang who becomes a friend for life. From almost getting eaten by cannibals to learning chess from one of them to becoming a professional wrestler, it has so much of him. His army mate Bubba, who plays a huge character in his life and their shared dream, which later Forrest fulfils and makes them all millionaires, his boss Lt Dane, one heck of a man and a perfect mentor for Forrest. His histrionics in ping pong and how he offends the Chinese, who were supposed to be the masters of the game, was one hell of an episode from his life. The book and Forrest’s story have so much heart that I never wanted it to finish, but with hardly 250+ pages, I could only stretch it to five days. But there is a catch, that there is a sequel to this one, and I need to lay my hands on it at the earliest. And on top of that, if I tell you what it is about, that will be a huge spoiler for this one :), so, you’ve got to read it for yourself and very well follow it with the multiple Oscar-winning movie, which actually got Tom Hanks, I believe, his first best actor Oscar award.

I must say why I enjoyed the book so much was because of Tom Hanks, as the way Forrest’s character talks in the book, bad English and almost no grammar, is exactly how Tom has done in the movie and that kept giving me visuals at the back of my head throughout the story. Although Winston Forrest is six feet six inches and bulky, barring that, Tom is almost a perfect fit for the character. Its visuals and background score do so much justice to Winston’s writing, and no wonder why it got so many awards and acclaim. If the truth be told, the book didn’t sell well initially; only 30k copies got sold, but once the movie came out, it sold more than a million copies. Do let me know if you have read the book and watched the movie, just like me and loved them both big time. Also, have you read anything else by Winston Groom? I will surely be looking forward to reading some more from him once I am done with this one’s sequel first.
 

Whereabouts - Jhupa Lahiri (Book).

Book: 26/52
Whereabouts - Jhupa Lahiri
My Rating: 3/5

These days, I have decided to read all my favourite writers back to back till I finish all of their books before moving to any other Author. As per my personal record of the last 12 years, I haven’t read anything from Jhumpa Lahiri other than The Lowland that I read last month. Hence, as soon as I saw this in the book rack, I picked it up and jumped on it. Turns out, this is more of a reminiscing of a single woman in and from Italy, name unknown, city undisclosed, year unknown, but the good part was her words simply flowed like honey. Originally written in Italian, she herself translated it into English (thank God for that) for a wider audience like us. All the chapters are like 3-4 pages max, talking about where she eats breakfast, who she meets in places she regularly visits, and a very brief mention of a lover who, I guess, was married already. Basically, the whole 200-odd pages are nothing but the narrator travelling around an unnamed European city, contemplating her solitude (thanks, wiki). In the train journeys that take her to her mother, not much is said about her dead father. There is a brief encounter with her grandmother, even. But as I said, her words flow beautifully and keep it engaging for the reader. I predicted no set ending, and that's how it goes. Now that I have read this one, I am craving to go back to The Namesake at the earliest, followed by Interpreter of Maladies, whereas I have one more from her “In Other Words) which I believe is a collection of stories on my book rack. 

 

The Test of My Life - Yuvraj Singh (Book).

Book: 25/52
The Test of My Life - Yuvraj Singh
My Rating: 5/5

When India won the first cricket World Cup in 1983, I was hardly 7 years old and had a vague memory of everyone celebrating something as if Diwali had come a bit early. Next time, when India won the World Cup, it was in 2011. My daughter was 5 years old, she had the same memory of us celebrating something in the dead of the night when the entire country was on the road shouting “Indiaaaaaa Indiaaaaaa” and waving the national flag, strangers hugging each other, nobody worried about the jammed traffic and whatnot. Now, this book was released in 2013 after Yuvraj Singh fought and beat cancer, but for some reason, I never got to read it. Finally, last week I decided I had to read the story of the “Player of the tournament” from the 2011 World Cup, whose contribution was priceless in helping India lift the same trophy after almost three decades. I still remember throughout the World Cup matches, he looked unwell, tired and kept on puking on the boundaries, but kept on playing to the best of his capabilities. News of his Cancer broke almost six months later, to the shock and amazement of all Indians as well as fans world over. But Yuvi, the man who holds the record of six sixes in an over and still I believe holds the record of fastest 50 in a T20 game, cannot be beaten by anything, let alone Cancer. This book is written in his own words, even the tone feels as if he is talking to the reader in his own style, as much as we have seen his histrionics on the ground and have heard so much through those wicket mikes, he actually sounds so much himself in its entirety. 

Unfortunately, we too have lost two aunts in the last few years, and one of my brothers-in-law is a survivor, much younger than me but fully cured. So I can claim to partially know the pain one goes through while fighting the dreaded disease, especially what happens to the family of the same person and how life changes upside down in the snap of a finger. The book covers the whole thing in a very simple way from the moment he starts feeling uncomfortable, way before the World Cup starts, but decides not to go for a check-up because he has no time but to practice and make sure this time we win it. What he prays to God for is something you should read the book for, and how it all comes true was totally unbelievable, heart-touching, yet so inspiring. The way he fought the battle, travelling from India to the UK to the US of A and finally back to India, was seriously inspiring. The book is full of some two dozen coloured pictures, too, from his childhood to current times, which again are a collector’s item, especially for his fans. The book is hardly 200 pages, very easy to read, but the weight that it carries, it actually took me a good 4-5 days to come to terms with the pain he was going through and how beautifully he has worded the same, never going overboard but always keeping it straightforward. I was already a huge Yuvi fan, but after reading this, his respect in my eyes has gone up by a few notches for sure. I consider myself lucky to have seen him in person in Pune while he played in IPL against my favourite Dada (Saurav Ganguly), it was a dream come true moment for me to see both of them in one frame with cute Preity Zinta around them :). 

Of course, the book is based on his fight with the disease, but I expected it to give some in-depth stories on his playing style and other stuff. Like I expected a bit of explaining why he wasn’t a great when it came to facing spinners and why he never super succeded in Test Cricket, but I let it be for some other day. Overall its a terrific book and a must-read for all sports lovers, especially cricket and Yuvraj Singh fans. Do let me know if you have read it and loved it, or if you, too, felt something was missing in the book. Next, I am looking forward to reading “Last Ball Six”, the story of the 2011 World Cup victory, at the earliest, at least before we play the next World Cup in 2027. 

 

Sholay The Making of A Classic - Anupama Chopra (Book & Movie)

Book: 24/52
Sholay The Making of A Classic - Anupama Chopra
My Rating: 5/5

I have never read a single review so far from Ms Chopra due to her usual controversial opinions (Example: Dhurandhar), and no way I would have picked up a book from her as I had no idea if she had written anything other than this one. For me, she was more of a celebrity wife enjoying her husband’s fame mostly, but this book changed all that for me and has certainly upped her respect a bit, too, in my eyes. Now, this one happens to be on the making of one of my all-time favourite movies, coincidentally, it was released the same year I was born. If I go by my mom’s records, this and Big B’s other movie, “Zanjeer”, were my first two movies on the big screen. And if I am not wrong, I must have seen Shoaly at least a good 25 times by now, with thrice on the big screen, once when it was re-released in the 90’s, second time a decade back in Mumbai when they released its 3D version with my dad and mom and a few months back when they released the Director’s cut version. It is always amazing to watch the movie on a big or small screen, as I know all its dialogues by heart, as Dad had an LP version of its dialogues, which was a rage back in the 70’s, and we would force him to put it on our record player almost every Sunday. With two tower speakers kept at a distance of a good 20 feet in my living room, we ran from one to another as the legendary dialogues boomed from one to another. It was a crazy experience till we watched it for the first time on a big screen. This is one of those very few movies that has aged so well that even today it is able to keep me engaged throughout and still arouses my emotions to a high degree with that classic ending. Now reading this book on the making of the movie was an eye opener of sorts, and I finished reading it two days back and trust me, for the last two days I have been pakaoing my wife and daughter with so many stories and facts about the movie that they have given up on me :). 

I guess Ms Chopra had solid access to the classics’ archives, and who in the world will deny her an interview when it comes to her contacts being terrific in the industry? Although I am way too late to read this one, as it was first published in the year 2000 on the movie’s 25th anniversary, and I have read the same on the movie’s 50th anniversary, can you imagine how late one can be :). The entire movie’s journey from four sentences in the minds of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar to a full-fledged movie was one heck of a story captured in almost 200 pages with some fantastic pictures thrown in as a bonus, although in the paperback edition, the pictures are black and white, and some are not as clear as we expect. I guess one should have got a hardback, assuming it will be better in that. And then, when it comes to gathering star power for the movie, Director Ramesh Sippy tried to get hold of Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, and Amitabh Bachchan for the pivotal two characters, which will become legends in the long run. So many replacements and final selections were a topsy-turvy story, and then the final selection of the actor who was supposed to play the baddie, which will become an iconic name in the Indian movie industry - Gabbar Singh, choices were from Danny to Dharmedra himself to lesser-known Amjad Khan. How he selects, later regrets half the way and around the movie’s release and later settles for him with a terrific outcome, which takes its own sweet time in culminating. I couldn’t believe my eyes to read that the movie was a flop initially and later on the public turned back to the movie and never left the theater’s, if the facts are to be believed it ran 5 years straight in some cinemas and kept on running the mattinee show for another few years after it finished its run time and even Ramesh Sippy had to request his distributors to remove it and put his next stylishe James Bondesque movie “Shaan” on big screen. So many stories behind the lovely characters of Gabbar Singh’s right and left-hand men - Sambha and Kaaliya were hilarious as well as heart-touching. Imagine Viju Khote, who plays Kaaliya’s character, his son hated it when everyone around them used to call his father Kaaliya :). I am sure that as he grew up, he must have felt proud of the same. 

While the movie was being made, there were multiple love stories going on in real time around the set and location around Ramanagram (near Bangalore), where they set up the whole village for the movie for the duration of almost two years. Sanjeev Kumar had promised Hema Malini and was promptly rejected by her. Dharmendra, too, was in love with her but was already married; his histronics to win her heart were superb stories, and how they made the lightmen rich in those days was hilarious to know. Dharmendra requested Ramesh Sippy to let him play Gabbar, but later, when he was told that in the end, the movie, his nemesis would get Hema, he promptly accepted the main lead role just to get her in the end :). Story writing process from four lines to a half-hour affair, final movie coming out close to seven hours, with a terrific editor at the helm of things, making it a perfect movie. Music Director R D Burman, another legendary figure from the film industry, created music that was never heard before, from the villain’s signature sound to the sound of terror and thrill. It was fantastic to read how he created it. One song which they recorded first but had no space in the movie to shoot it, how it became almost the first item song in an Indian movie and again, Salim Khan wanted to participate in the song because he too was in love with the woman playing “Mehbooba” was super fun to read, what happened in the end - we all know already. I mean, after reading the book in flat 2-3 sittings, I had to follow it up with the movie as that totally changed my perspective of how I had watched it so many times earlier but watching it after this book gave me such a deeper meaning and connect with the classic, I can’t thank enough Ms Chopra for actually writing one amazing book and giving us so many insider stories on the much loved classic. And guess what, I can keep talking about it a lot more, but will stop it here and recommend it big time, especially to those who have loved the movie and still watch it again and again.

Do let me know if you have read this one and loved it. And I need to find out if she has written any other book on the making of any other classic Indian movie. I would definitely look forward to it at the earliest.