Thursday, May 31, 2018

Movie Review: Veere di Wedding



When the trailer of Veere di Wedding came out, I immediately knew it was one to watch with my girl friends. With work, kids and home, these chickas have a tough time coming out of the house alone - but they managed and I am so glad.

In one word, we absolutely LOVED the movie!

From the first scene to the last, the movie had us hooked. Since I don't intend to give out the story, I will not write the narrative here. And since I am no expert on screenplay, editing, lyrics, dialogues - I will not write about that either.

But whatever all that means - I LOVED it!!

You see the movie has certain punches that make you roll on the floor. I don't care about girls saying the cuss-words, and frankly they don't make me laugh. I am so glad the movie was much more than that.

Veere di Wedding is about the modern Indian girl and all that goes in her mind. Yes, they could have gone to Goa instead of Phuket to make it more relatable to the middle-class us, but then how would they show us the amazing clothes and interiors that left us all drooling throughout.

There was never a dull moment in the movie, no melodrama, no putting the men down or anything - it was about human relationships and the women actually made us laugh throughout. SO rare in Indian cinema where men get all the humourous quotes.

As for female bonding - ah, there are so many scenes that made me wish I could go for a holiday with my girl friends. The bond we share as girls is incomparable and it is shown so beautifully in the film. Like they have a fight in one scene and they just go on a holiday in the next - no offense taken by any of them. They stand up for each other, pull each other's leg, share secrets, bitch about each other, fight and make up - all signs of incredible female bonding.

Yes, this is a chick film. But men may enjoy it as well. For a change they will get to see our side of the story. Go for it peeps, and see the likes of Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Tansania take you in the world of female friendship which is a laugh riot.

The Punjabi tadka in the movie is hilarious. And the songs - oh Tareefan and Bhangra Ta Sajda are just my favourite. There is another song - Pappi - the choreography for which is so funny!

There is one thing though which I did not like - they have given out almost all the punch lines in the trailer. That reduced the fun I had... anyway! I hope some people don't reject the movie just because the women in it are not typical of majority of us, or they abuse in the movie, or the movie reminds them of Sex and The City. I hope they take it as how it is - a fun film showing female bonding, strong women who can stand up for themselves and, just, cheap thrills!

Go watch it with your veeras.



Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Dual in One - Our Happily Ever After!



Dual hearts, one soul, drama non-stop - in a Selfie!

Once upon a time
Not in Riverdale
Archie met his Betty
To start a fairytale.

They chatted about the world
And had common dreams
Far from the usual
They loved the same themes.

Love blossomed 
They wanted to EXPERIENCE MORE
After they said "I do"
A beautiful life they began to EXPLORE.

If a picture could speak
This filmy one is the one
That defines their dreamy life
The drama, their love and the fun.

Once upon a time
Not in Riverdale,
Archie met his Betty 
And this is their fairytale…


The story behind this selfie? Let's go back in time to LEARN MORE!


Archie meets Betty

It was the night of April 13, 2003. I had given my second-year psychology paper in the afternoon and was feeling pretty good about it. My computer was on and the green flower of the ICQ messenger service icon was blinking on my status bar. Like a normal 20-year-old female in India, I was receiving several messages asking my ASL (Age-Sex-Location, duh!).

By now I had been using the Internet for about 3 years and could easily filter the jerks from those who had some potential. A window popped up that caught my attention:

archie29: Will you be my Veronica?

It was cheesy and cute at the same time. And since I had a nick name that was just as ‘interesting’, I decided to respond:

rhythmdivine: Nah, I am more the Betty types.

Those two lines were the beginning of a life-long romance. Several chats later photographs were exchanged. Though looks don’t matter, I was glad he didn’t look like a character from The Hulk and he was just happy that I was a girl.

You know, boys!

We lived some 1000 km apart and were both studying. There was no easy way for us to meet. On my first birthday as chat friends we wanted to CELEBRATE MORE, and so we both decided to buy a web camera. It was then we had our first picture together, a different kind of selfie experience!

Perfect Selfie? - well, the best was yet to come!

Chat friends in a Selfie







Boy meets Girl

To LEARN MORE about us, in October 2004, on his way to his brother's wedding, he decided to take a detour and hop on a train to my city - Lucknow. I was a nervous wreck, and he was a naive and geeky IITian who had no clue how to impress girls. 

Unslept, unshaven, he walked towards me. The first time our eyes met, I cannot say I was impressed!

The second day was better when he looked more human. Several hours of real-life chatting later, he left. Cupid had done its work, now it was upto destiny to decide our fate.

Six months later, he got admission in IIM Lucknow. He came again, only this time, we were not chat friends, but a real life couple. 

Our second picture together was in a Cyber Cafe from their webcam! We were trying to perfect the art of taking good pictures together!

Besties in a Selfie!


Boy dates Girl

Our dates were discreet and short. I come from a conservative family and seeing me with a boy was not my parent's favourite choice. We were extremely cautious and met only in locations which were far from my place. Also, we were both doing our MBA from different colleges and between our tight schedules, semester exams, project reports and assignments, there was little time to love. 

Needless to say, it was an awful lot of fun and an adventure in its own way. Thankfully free calling between two numbers was introduced and our tiny handsets helped us cruise smoothly. There was no selfie camera in our phones, so he bought a digital camera with his meager pocket money. 

The timer setting helped us click a few pictures, and this one remains my favourite. But did we want more? - You bet!

Lovers in a Selfie


Boy and Girl say "I do"

After 4.5 years of being best friends and then lovers, we decided that we needed to stay together. Although we were both starting our careers and had absolutely no money to start a household, we couldn't wait any longer to declare our love to the world. 

We told our families and after a few days of anxious moments, we got hitched! Again a mirror helped in giving us a different kind of selfie experience! Although I wish it had captured MORE!

Bahu in Selfie


Boy and Girl in a new country

He got a job in the island country of Bahrain and moved there. My dependent Visa took nearly four months - a phase which was more trying than any other time in our lives. It was like we were not meant to get married that soon. 

After several visits to the passport office, immigration departments in India and in Bahrain, hopping  between my house and my in-laws place, my Visa was stamped and I landed in the tiny island country to be reunited with my husband.

Our reunion was like none other and we spent the next few months exploring the new country and our new life.

We were free for the first time and could date without being scared of being caught by a family member! It was one of the best years of my life and this mirror selfie captures it beautifully. If this picture is not perfect, then what is? Well, wait for it!

Man and wife in a Selfie


Boy and Girl travel the world

After two years of making a little bit of money we wanted to ENJOY MORE and so, we set our foot outside Asia. We travelled to France and Switzerland, to Turkey and Greece, to USA and Jamaica, and several other countries. Since we are not tripod kind of people and almost never ask strangers for taking our pictures, we  hardly ever had pictures together before the time front camera finally arrived.

Our memories were etched in our minds, the unforgettable trips were marked in our hearts, and the few couple pictures that we had in our digital cameras, made for great mementos. 

In our nine years of travel, my favourite country is Czech Republic. This picture captures the fairytale that has been our life. But perfection needs more work!

Travellers in a Selfie

Boy and Girl bug each other

As you can see from these pictures, Archie has lost a fair amount of hair. I've got some grey hair as well although I still look like I did in 2004, like I always will!

We have our moments of annoying each other, some arguments here and there, and a fair share of khit-pit

In these moments, I can raise my voice but he cannot. That is just a rule in our house. So what does he do to show his frustration? To CREATE MORE drama, he enacts his inner feelings! Not to be a buzzkill or anything, these are definitely NOT my perfect selfies!

Buggers in a Selfie
Buggers in a Selfie

Boy and Girl click perfect pictures

In the fourteen years that we have known each other, we have several pictures together. If I try to remember, most pictures have a story behind it. There have been countless times when he won't take a perfect picture and I would scream at him. Sometimes he won't take the background properly, on other times he would miss my complete dress! We have had fights because he is so repulsive to capturing a moment perfectly. 

However, In this new era,  we did manage to have a favorite selfie. It was clicked in the parks of Amsterdam while I was loving every bit of this amazing city.

I feel that this picture defines our life - dreamy like a poem, dramatic like a film, and perfect like a fairlytale. It captures our love for travel, our crazy poses, the precious moments in the process. It smells like freshly watered grass and oozes of romance...Ah, to me it is just perfect.

Hero Heroine in a Selfie!

I am glad I was online that night. I am glad I responded to a random stranger. I am glad he found his Veronica in me. 'Cause we were meant to be... we are DUAL IN ONE!


Dual in one? The title of this post is inspired by the latest  Mobiistar phone  that has a  front, dual selfie camera which  can capture 120 degree wide angle shot. Just like we aim to EXPLORE MORE in life, the brand promises us to "Enjoy More" through the products functionality.  Now my favourte selfie can have more of the location it has been captured in, including my full dresses! I am also waiting to try the potrait mode in all its glory. All of this for budget conscious people like us.

We aim to create many more memories and experience more of this beautiful life. To RESTORE MORE of these moments, Mobiistar phone's camera sounds exactly what we need!