Digi's Blog

If you think about it, for a doctor and surgeon like me, banking related novels are part of a way different genre. But there has always been something about Ravi Subramanian which has made me love all his novels. I started my association with Blogadda by reviewing Ravi’s novel. So this time when they offered a copy of “God is a Gamer” for review, I HAD to get it. And despite the heavy schedule, I easily finished the novel in 3 days. PLOT Like all his previous novels, this one too revolves around the NYIB New York International Bank. To describe the whole plot would be almost impossible. To tell you in short, there are multiple subplots, all well connected with each other. As always, this novel revolves in and around the New York international Bank (NYIB) and brings out the glaring reality of the banking world. There is the well known character Aditya who has been an old character in Ravi’s novels. There are also Sundeep, swami and Kalpana. This time we are introduced to ...

James Patterson is a big name amongst the popular novelists of today. I hadn’t read any of his novels till now. But I have read Ashwini Sanghi’s two books – “Krishna key” and “Chanakya’s chant”. When I heard that these two authors were collaborating for a novel, I was indeed excited. Here’s what I thought of the book. PLOT The plot is totally Indian. Obviously. Even though James Patterson is involved, the two authors justify the title of the book, weaving an intriguing and lovely plot which is filled with Indian elements. It is a clever mix of Patterson and Sanghi’s imagination as they combine Indian religion with fiction and suspense to create a gripping novel. The plot is something like this – PRIVATE INDIA is an Indian investigative organization headed by Santosh. Along with few other members, they take upon the case of a serial killer who is in no mood to relent. One by one, the killings take place, the killer always leaving peculiar mementos at the murder site. ...

The gujarati film industry has never been something about which we could talk proudly to the rest of Indian regional cinema. For an outsider and even for a gujarati, a gujarati movie inevitably meant a film with the actors in traditional costumes, with garbas and heavy dialogues. But things changed few years back when Abhishek Jain gifted us with “KEVI RITE JAISH”, a movie which revolutionarized the Gujarati film industry. It was the first gujarati movie which was “Normal” meaning that something with which we could identify. It featured normal gujarati urban people speaking normal gujarati, with no over the top melodrama. In short, it was a film which the entire gujarati clan loved. So it was no wonder that I had a lot of hopes from Jain’s next movie “BE YAAR”. And with the movie having released in only a single show in the entire big city of Rajkot (Which is a shame on part of the Rajkot cinema owners), I made it a point to go to the first show on the first day. PLOT...

SPOILERS AHEAD Films based on women are of various types in our hindi film industry. There are few who spend the entire two and a half to three hours glorifying women, going overboard, exaggerating everything, desperately trying to prove that women are supreme. These films will have a climax laden and loaded with ultra heavy jingoistic dialogues, giving us the message that women are the best. And then there are few films which steer totally clear off all these shackles and simply focus on the story. Whatever message is supposed to be conveyed is automatically evident, without the need for any exaggerated dialogues and climax. “English Vinglish” belonged to this category; almost. “QUEEN” belong to this category too, but entirely! “Queen” is a movie which will linger in your mind for a long long time after you have finished watching it. There are innumerable scenes which you will recollect once you have stepped out of the theatre hall. Prior to watching this film, I was ske...

Disclaimer - It might get a bit personal and boring at times. Please bear. There was this woman. I call her a “WOMAN” and not a girl, though she is still only 23 years old. This post is for her – that one single woman who I believe is someone who will be etched in my heart for years to come. For the world, she was a random person, a typical girl, loaded with the usual tantrums, habits, styles and fusses usually associated with a girl of 18 years freshly arrived in college. For me she was different. She wasn’t at all a random person. I loved her typicalities, experienced her tantrums, marveled at her styles, and got angry at times and smiled at times at her fusses. The first time I had met her, I had actually shook my head in disgust as she was unstoppingly and unhaltingly speaking – a thing which a woman totally loves to do. Let us leave the words “love”, “girlfriend”, “relationship”, etc aside. She was a friend. A friend who taught me how to actually trust, love, l...

It is indeed a difficult job to make a list of my favorite songs of A.R Rahman. After much thought and exclusion of MANY songs, here is a list of my favorite ARR songs - Yeh haseen vaadiyaan (Roja) Lukka chhuppi (Rang de basanti) Tum ho (Rockstar) Saadda haq (Rockstar) Bombay theme (Bombay) Tere bina (Guru) Jaane tu meri kya hai (Jaane tu ya jaane na) Jashn e bahaara (Jodha akbar) Ishq bina (Taal) Mujhe rang de (Thakshak) Ek tu hi bharosa (Pukar) Chale chalo (Lagaan) Radha kaise na jale (Lagaan) Sadiyaan (Lakeer) Yun hi chala chal (Swades) Des ki mitti (Bose the forgotten hero) Dil hai chhota sa (Roja) Al maddath maula (Mangal Pandey) Khoon chala (Rang de basanti) Kabhi kabhi aditi (Jaane tu ya jaane na) Tu muskuraa (Yuvvraj) Ae Nazneen suno na (Dil hi dil mein) Jhoola baahon ka (Doli saja ke rakhna) Raanjhaa raanjhaa (Raavan) Dreams of fire (Slumdog millionaire) Maa tujhe sa...

There is this new trend of merging mythology with fiction lately which seems to be working quite well. “Baramulla bomber” too follows the same path to some extent. Written by Suraj “Clarke” Prasad, this book is a combination of politics, cricket and some deep and well done research. PLOT – A lot of things are crammed in this first part of the trilogy. There is a deep insight to the political tension between India and China. Then there is some very thorough description of the mythological being the key. To be honest, I felt a bit too much stuffed in a single book. The initial few pages are a difficult read – ranging from boring to quite disjointed. But soon, the author picks up pace and we are on a racy ride involving espionage, religion, friendship and ofcourse, cricket. There are a lot of twists and turns and unexpected events which manage to hold your interest till the end. WRITING – Clarke Prasad’s writing is quite lovely. I liked his unique style of writing ...