Book Review: A Thing Beyond Forever - Novoneel Chakraborty

What is love? This is the question that has been a part of innumerable discussions, has been a basic plot of thousands of movies and main theme of thousands of books. Even though, many go numb if this question is asked to them. Reason is simple; noone can exactly define it in words. For every individual, the meaning varies from A to Z. And mind you, no one is wrong in defining it. Then the next question arises; what is universal definition of love? ‘A Thing beyond Forever’ debut novel of Novoneel Chakraborty talks about the same.

Dr. Radhika Sharma: For a world outside, is an arrogant woman. But from inside? Well, she is an extremely sensitive girl trying to forget her first love and move on.

A regular day it was, everything was going normally until one young patient poked the sensitive Radhika inside the arrogant Dr. Radhika Sharma. Lost in the vagaries of life, she starts reading the diary written by the guy she loved. She loved him more than anyone could ever love anyone. It did not last long; but then reward for every true love is not love. As she finishes reading the diary, she finds herself facing the situation; which no one could ever term it logical. Was she going mad or was it just the coincidence or is love really a thing beyond forever? Reading the book is the better way to get the answers to these questions.

First off, this is not an easy book to read. If you think you can get off by breezing through the pages while sipping your tea/coffee then you’re wrong. This book demands concentration and introspection in every page. There are a lot of questions raised by the author on life and love via characters that can certainly give you goosebumps and amaze you. Some are answered and some are left on the readers’ answer cultivating powers.

The character, Radhika, is very strong. Very, very strong. You can’t help but praise her even after reading minute details of her character and her love. The way she handles all the situations as a teen ager and as a grown up woman amazes you. Her love, (for the name of her love, consult the book) who has a simple and a very sweet character makes you fall in love with him. He makes you smile; he makes you cry. You do what he makes you to do.

The book, also, generates an urge inside of you to start writing a diary and create journals. The way story proceeds via the journal entries is very fresh. You feel like finishing the book as soon as possible and start writing down your daily events onto one.

Writing style is remarkable. The writer manages to make you smile and make you cry at his will. He has handled the emotions of the characters well. Very well, I mean. Diction is astoundingly brilliant and appropriate.

The only thing which may not go down well after you’re done with the story is the credibility of the events that happen in the book. I mean, on one hand the questions and answers on life and love put up by the author are real and you can easily relate with them and on the other hand the events which occur in the story may be categorized as unreal by some, illogical by some and awesome by the rest.

All in all, I believe, Novoneel Chakraborty is the writer to watch out for. He writes differently and thinks differently. He might confuse those who are into ‘fun books’ but for those looking for some quality read, his books are must, despite of some ignorable shortcomings (Mind you, he is not very old in the field of literature. Give him some time.)

Pros: Extremely brilliant story, Author’s natural flair with the writing, Radhika Sharma, superb philosophy, LOVE!

Cons: Many may question about the credibility of a few events and about the ending.

Overall: Must Read! 4/5

Book Review: Johnny Gone Down - Karan Bajaj

Bored of reading romantic stories? Want to read something ‘out-of-the-box’? Ever thought, what would happen if you step out of your comfort zone for a long, long time? Ever wondered what would happen if you lose your identity? Ever tried reading ‘Johnny Gone Down’ by Karan Bajaj? If not, heck, ever tried Googling about the same?

Karan Bajaj, after phenomenal success of “Keep off the grass” came up with “Johnny Gone Down” which tells about a man set out(or forced, perhaps) on a ‘never before’ journey. From experiencing ups and downs in a sinusoidal manner, Karan tells the story about how Nikhil Arya, initially MIT graduate, falls. Blame his destiny or his surprisingly strange decisions.

Identity 1: MIT Graduate – 1975. The protagonist is just about to complete his graduation. Has been recruited in NASA. His friend, Sam tells him about a visit to Cambodia before they begin their boring corporate job. Hesitatingly, he agrees.

Identity 2: Genocide Survivor – 1977. After being abducted by Khmer Rouge members in Phnom Penh and severely tortured for continuous two years, the protagonist loses all hopes of living. He wishes to die. He has been a place, worse than hell, he feels and has no qualms of not being to get to the US for a normal life.

Identity 3: Buddhist Monk – 1978: After surviving luckily (or again destiny, perhaps) he is taken care of in Thailand by the monks. He has lost his arm and looks crumbled. He decides to stay there instead of going back to the US and follows the path of Buddha.

Identity 4: Drug Lord – 1985: After becoming calm and composed, he with his Buddhist friend fly down to Brazil to set up a monastery. After spending some time there, he feels strange, weird and incomplete. He leaves the monastery and sets out introspecting with himself. The protagonist then saves a Drug Lord in small fight in a bar and thus becomes his friend and accountant.

Identity 5: Software Mogul: Thereafter – After helping his Drug lord-cum-friend to find legal way to success and marrying with his love, he is forced to leave Brazil when his friend’s enough become jealous of his success. He meets a pessimist ex-MITian who has lost all hopes of success and works endlessly on a computer wasting time. The protagonist teams up with him and develops a virtual life online software called Another Life and gives away everything after that, yet again.

Identity 6: Deadly Game Fighter: Present Times – Life has come full circle for him as he is returning to India after getting tired of running and giving away everything, to play a deadly game.  The game is simple. Either he survives or he dies.

What events or decisions or thoughts snatched away everything from him and forced him to lead a life like this? What happens after the game? Does he live or Nikhil Arya or Johnny goes down for good? Buy and read the book as soon as possible to know the answers.

The book blew my mind, literally. I never thought any Indian Author would ever be able to come up with a terrific thrilling novel, until I came across this book. You will not want to keep this book down before finishing unless, well, your own life is in trouble.

The book, written in First Person, has in it to make you travel around so many places without letting you step out of your room. The language is way too awesome. The style is thrilling. The ending is superb. The beginning, oh yeah, the beginning was the part when I actually thought, “Is this true? Is this book managing to run adrenaline throughout my body?” The bad part, okay, I read somewhere that a few complained about the book slowing down as more events come into picture. I disagree. But I’d admit that the concept of Another Life, its explanation and the part where Nikhil spends time online on Another Life was a bit sloppy and could’ve been shorter and simplified. Also, many find the book unreal cuz of larger than life events, my question to them is that whether they are sure about the meaning of fiction? The book is written for people to enjoy and to give a huge amount of thrill. And it does not disappoint. You’ll also notice how Nikhil touches life wherever he goes. And also, all these are my personal opinions.

All in all, a great book for all thrill lovers and for those looking for any story sans love. The story will keep you thinking for a long time once you’re done reading it.

Pros: Super story. Terrific writing style. Nikhil’s journey and his survival instincts. Nice and apt ending. THRILL!

Cons: Another Life concept.

Overall: MUST Read. 4/5

Book Review: That Kiss in The Rain - Novoneel Chakraborty

Which is better, or in other words what is ethically true: Making love with someone you love or loving someone you make love with? Novoneel Chakraborty’s second novel: “That Kiss In The Rain…Love is the weather of Life” talks about the same. A lot has been said and discussed about love various times in many books. Why would anyone read ‘That Kiss in The Rain’ when the name itself depicts romance?

Pallavi:

An airhostess by profession and rich spoilt brat by nature. Believe in the statement: “Nothing is impossible”, follows the statement, “Pallavi can only lose in one case, when she wants to’. Truly loves her childhood crush ‘Dino’ and believes he was her first and last 'love'.

Swadha:

A simple girl and the most important character in the book. Source of answers to all the questions by women of all ages. On a never ending quest of finding her true love.

….And then they met him, exactly when they shouldn’t have.

Haasil:

An amnesiac cuz of major accident. Entrepreneur by profession. Widower.  

The story begins with the disclosure of Haasil’s accident revealing he has lost his wife in a major accident. He tries to recover from the accident while we learn about Pallavi and Swadha. How their childhood was spent describing the details which led to their character of their adult life. Nitin, Haasil’s friend, tries not to reveal the secret of Palki’s(Haasil’s wife) death to him with providing excuses of her not being with him at this sensitive stage. After a few events Pallavi and Swadha come into Haasil’s life to make it smooth (or more complicated, perhaps). What happens next? Haasil gets whom? Pallavi? Swadha? Or what will happen if and when he will come to know about his wife’s death? Read the book for the answers.

Novoneel’s way of storytelling is tremendously good. The dribbling between the character sketches was done in a perfect manner. Detailing of characters was superb. If these characters were real, you would be able to recognize them if came across. Not an exaggeration.

The best thing about the story is the soul. The feelings and sentiments of Haasil are described in such a way that you pray for him to get Palki back! Why is this book different than other romantic novels? Cuz it deals with the quest of true love, in a mature way. The three main characters are in search of true love. Haasil, just wants his wife back. Swadha wants his boss to reciprocate as she loves him genuinely. Pallavi wants his childhood love, Dino, back. To know how all these stories are connected, you just need to order a copy online or grab one from the nearest bookstore. The only drawback in the story, which I personally felt, was the ending. It was a little abrupt. Many would disagree, but this is my personal opinion. It could've been perfect. Nevertheless, the book was a great read!

Again, a few grammatical and printing mistakes I did come across and I also know they can be very easily ignored.

All in all, a great book for all romance lovers and for all those who never tried reading about love or hated it.

Pros: Fantastic theme, Interesting Characters, Pallavi’s attitude, Italicized lines, nice storyline, twists and LOVE!

Cons: Ending.

Overall: Must Read. 4/5

Book Review: Cricket Till I Die - Upneet Grover

Fact: Cricket is a religion in our country. Anything related to cricket, even remotely, is expected to be over the top and exciting. You get positive vibes every time cricket is introduced around you in any form. I had the same expectations from Cricket till I die. Did it fulfill my expectations or disappointed me? Well, I cannot say anything specifically to be honest. Read further to know more.

Vineet Grover(the main protagonist in the book: Cricket till I die) is a frustrated IT sector employee who has a boring and monotonous schedule. A 9-5 job, a caring girlfriend, weird boss, some good and some bad friends and a dream. Dream to represent India in cricket at international level. Professionally he wants to crack CAT and get into an IIM to have a good life. He does crack CAT and does get into FMS instead of IIM. Then what? On one journey en route his college he comes across a cricket club. Surreptitiously he visits that club and that single visit changes his life completely. He starts playing and playing well. He gets recognized and is called to a prestigious Delhi Club, where he fails miserably to please selectors. His friend Hardik flies down to Delhi to help him out by making him bat on a cemented pitch, wet ball, bowled by monsters. After dramatically getting selected to the Delhi IPL team he experiences ups and lows and learns a lot from none other than Virendra Sehwag. Does he get selected in the national team? Read the book to know about the future of his dream.

Upneet has used a very fine language with terrific and apt diction throughout the book. A few noticeable printing and editing mistakes I did come across but I think they would be taken care of in the next edition.

The story in the beginning tells us about the life of Vineet, which I found a little boring to be honest. But the anticipation of Cricket’s entry later in the book kept me guessing and I did not feel like letting it down. The moment his dream rekindles, you feel like saying, ‘Wow, now it sounds interesting!’ You feel connected to Vineet consequently. The conundrum he goes through and all. You feel it. The part where he represents the Delhi team in the stadium is the best. Though that part seems unreal at points but you don’t give many thoughts. Rather, you enjoy. The scenes where he faces the ball, scores, gets out and bowls himself are described perfectly. No glitches. The ending, I found to be dramatic. It could’ve been much better but then, the book is about cricket and cricket means expect the unexpected. And it can be good or bad. Again, the ending was not bad, but was dramatic in comparison with the rest of the events described.

All in all, the story told in a simple and an enjoyable way shows how to pursue a dream, even if it seems unreal, without giving up.

Pros: Nice theme. Apt usage of great quotes before every chapter. Simple story. CRICKET!

Cons: Slow start, Dramatic ending.

Overall: Nice Read! 3/5

Dum Maaro Dum

Hello guys, how are you all? Did you miss us and our reviews? Say yes. Even if you don’t, just say yes. We’ll feel good. After a long, long time our favorite movie reviewer visited theater to watch the movie and is back today with the review of Dum Maaro Dumand also to increase the dwindling TRP. Please welcome, LEBNOX!

“It’s good to see you again, Lebnox. How are you?”

“I’m good and am here to take care of your TRPs. By the way, how could you expect good TRPs during all these cups and leagues?” He passed his characteristic diabolical smile.

“I hate these matches as much as I love them. People tend to ignore my show during these tournaments.”

“Just thank god that you’re living in a normal world.” That smile got wider. And before we could comprehend the actual meaning of that line, he was ready for the interview.

Q. 1) Okay. I’ll start with the classic question. How will you define the movie in one word?

Lebnox:  Stylish!

Q.2) That doesn’t sound good. I mean generally stylish movies haven’t done well in the past.

Lebnox: What’s up with you? You asked one word, and I said stylish. What does it have to do with history and doing well? (His constant smile was making us nervous.)

Q.3) Nothing.Nothing. So let’s talk about the performances.

Lebnox: I don’t know why Bipasha opted for this film. There was nothing for her to perform. All she did in the movie was to take drugs, sleep with a few actors and cry. She has been wasted. Prateik Babbar has performed better in the past so I would say an okay kinda performance. His expressions throughout the movie were terrific though. And, I had forgotten everything about Adtiya Pancholi completely until I saw him acting in this movie. He was decent. His dialogue delivery was pleasantly delightful. Rana Daggubati was expression less throughout the movie. No matter what happens he stays blank. Even in his scenes where he is all singing and doing the rockstar thing, he is pokerfaced. The only man who actually performed, acted, made me smile, and sometimes irritated too, was Abhishek Bachchan. You’ll see one of his better performances in recent times in this movie. His dialogue delivery was top-notch. His expressions were stupendous and his action scenes were convincing.

Q.4) And how was Rohan Sippy?

Lebnox: I liked his different way of direction. He handled the story well. Although he seemed to be hugely inspired by the legendary Tarantino and the master of crime, Scrosese but I don’t see any reason of stealing away his credits. There is no harm in getting inspired as long as you keep projecting your own style in it. Rohani Sippy did well. His direction was fresh and fine. You don’t get bored.

Q.5) How about the story? Did it thrill you?

Lebnox: Storyline is another weak point of the movie. The movie begins with the story of Pratiek, then it drifts quickly to Abhishek Bachchan and then to Rana Daggubati and all. It all happens so quickly that you’re unable to attach yourself to any story. Writers are to be blamed. The climax was supposed to be shocking and thrilling but it confuses some, disappoints some and some find it unconvincing. Dialogues are worth applauds in some scenes and hair-pulling-hormone-generating in some scenes.

Q.6) So what did you find stylish in the movie?

Lebnox: A lot of things. The best was the cinematography. The camera work is so unique and surprisingly incredible that you just can’t help but give *WHOA* expressions. The usage of vibrant colors. There are a lot of rich colors used in the movie but they are so appropriately used that they don’t do any damage to your eye, rather you enjoy them. The music. I don’t know if Pritam is accused later for plagiarism of the songs he composed for the movie, but I liked all the songs except the stupid rap by Abhishek Bachchan and the irritating title track. I’m sure everybody likes them too. So, the overall look of the film is stylish and you will be amazed by it.

Q.7) I had thought after the gap of two months you might have lost your magical touch. I was wrong!

Lebnox: India’s win has improved my talent of crackling snappy repartees. But you still are the same.(We still wonder what he actually meant by that.)

Q.8) What's the movie about? The story, I mean.

Lebnox: The movie is based on a threesome of violence, drugs and sex in Goa. An ACP is handed over the clean-up job after the limits have been crossed. The ACP itself has a dark past. His wife had died due to his corruption and to recover from all this he takes over the job of making Goa a better place. The Drug lord isn’t happy with him and he summons the ultimate kingpin, whom no one has ever seen and has never ever been caught, to take care of ACP. A DJ who had been watching silently all the while, when his loved ones deserted him and got addicted, finally gets a wakeup call when his innocent best friend gets caught while doing an illegal thing in order to get back to his love. All these stories are connected and the climax is supposed to be shocking.

Q.9) So the movie is a hit?

Lebnox: You could’ve saved much of energy if you could’ve consulted Google. I always tell you to do so.

Q.10) Excuse me?

Lebnox: Err…Umm.. I mean the movie will do a decent job and shall recover its expences with ease.

Q.11) It’s my turn to ask, what’s up with you?

Lebnox: Nothing. You always have an option to edit this interview, but you choose to go uncensored. Such a TRP addict person you are. (We really had nothing to say after this statement.)

Q.12) Final Verdict?

Lebnox: The weak points of the movie are the storyline and some performances. Positive points are Cinematography, style, freshness, music and Abhishek Bachchan. So you when you have positive points in the majority side, you should give it a try.

He got up and was ready to go.

Q.13? Err.. Won’t you rate the movie?

Lebnox: You know what, I am just an ordinary guy with extra ordinary wits but I have no right to give marks to the movie. Simple numbers assigned to the movies by many others sometimes sabotage the reputation of the movie and not many realize while doing so that how much time, energy, brain and hard work is spent in making it. I’ve said all what I think about the movie and let people decide whether they want to see it or not. Moreover, I’m popular for being different. Ain’t I? (And there came the classicLebnoxical wink.)

And he left. We think he was absolutely right about the rating system. We ask ourselves what is 5 in the rating system? There was no answer. If anybody from your side comes up with a valid answer, he'll get to feature in our next movie review. So we conclude this interview right here and hope you enjoyed the show after such a long time.

The Social Network

You just don’t board a train only to travel. You step into a new life for a period of time. You experience some really weird, new, funny or life changing things many a times. The last time I travelled in a train, I witnessed an epiphany. A major one, to be precise.

We were in a group of three. We got into our coach and quickly unloaded ourselves with our luggage, put it under the berths and sat down to relax. I looked around. There was chaos everywhere. Suddenly, train started moving. The rumpus settled. Finally! I again looked around with a hope of finding a hot girl near my place. All I could see were some old people fighting over a stupid topic, that whether the lead protagonist of some Baalika Vadhu serial was supposed to fight with her husband or not. I rolled my eyes from their place to side berth. There was a guy sitting with his eyes closed with earphones in his ears. I smiled and took out mine. Just when I was about to browse through the media files my friend from upper berth came down.

“Oh! Android?” he asked. “Yeah!” I grinned. “Since when? I thought you had a java phone.” “ I used to. Until a couple of days back.” My grin got wider. “Dena bey 2 min ke liye. I’ll update my facebook status. It’ll say via Android. My friends will ask about it then.” He laughed. “Abey ruk, mujhey apna update karne de pehle.”  I replied. A sense of pride generated in me. My another friend spoke up, “I just updated my status saying, ‘My hometown, here I come!’ ” “How many liked it? And any comments?” I laughed. Old people stopped discussing Baalika Vadhu. They were looking at us now, bewildered. That guy on side berth was not listening to songs now. He was listening to our conversation. ‘Stupid Kids!’, they all must be thinking. I realized this later. A dual flashlight broke my reverie. I looked at my friends. They clicked a photo of themselves and uploaded it on facebook saying, ‘We in train’. “Yey! Two likes!! Oye, Smita also likes this. She likes you. Doesn’t she?” He seemed overjoyed. I felt jealous. Smita liked his pic and not mine. What’s wrong in me? Or does she really like him? At this point of time the guy sitting on side berth stood up and came near us.

“Can I sit here?” He asked. I looked at him; he looked confident and surprisingly had a lot of positive vibes around him. “Umm…Yea Yeah, of course! Why not!” I stammered. “You three from same college?” “Same class as well.” My friend answered. “He turned to me, “Travelling till last station?” “Yeah”. I replied blankly. I was not gay but I couldn’t resist from watching him continuously. Sorry, replace ‘was’ in the last sentence with ‘am’.

“Addicted to facebook you guys. Haan?” He said with a mysterious smile on his face. “Everyone is. Well almost!” I added the last part after watching those old men. “What is facebook to you?” He asked us expecting a reply from each of the three. “Facebook is the medium by which I can stay connected with my closed ones.” I said. He looked at my friends. “Same. I get to know what my friends are doing and they get to know what I am doing.” “Is that all?” The guy asked. “I guess so.” “And what about you?” He asked my friend. “Facebook is the place where I can be all what I cannot be in real life.” The guy smiled. Both of my friends gave me a Who-is-he-and-what-is-he-doing-in-our-group look. I signaled them to remain quiet. “Why do you ask?” “Just like that. I wanted to know your views.” He replied. I wasn’t satisfied. I asked him to elaborate. “To me Facebook is that ostentatious place where we just try to pretend to be very interesting and cool humans. It’s all about likes and comments. Oh well! I’m sorry I’m not supposed to comment on all of this. I’m being the intruder.” He was about to get up.

“No it’s okay. Actually I was being uncomfortable earlier but now that you’ve expressed your views, I want to know the elaborated part.” My friend spoke up this time. Even those old men looked interested. “How can you say facebook is ostentatious? I mean why such harsh opinion?” I asked. “See I’ve nothing against anything. Even I do have my profile but I don’t pass out much of my personal info there. All of my closed ones know everything about me. For sharing my whereabout details I text them. To share pics and images, I use e-mail. For other friends, the info about me is sufficient. But again, this is my personal opinion.”

He made sense. But I had to defend my point. “Sms and email take much time and you have to send them to numerous people all the time. Facebook is easy. Just one click and your details are shared with everyone. Moreover, if you’re so concerned about your privacy breach, Facebook has an option of hiding your info from selected people.” “Well, now I’d like to put forth my second statement to prove my point. Posing and editing the pics, and flaunting your wits in your statements are never bad things. In fact they are good. But, if you try to pretend you’re witty by plagiarizing the lines from here and there and using them as if they were yours, is a turn off. And, you only edit your pic when you know you are not looking good and you want to. Again you’re pretending to be smart and handsome.  Again, flaunting your English language is always good but it is of no use when you can’t converse in English. Why pretend to be a Shakespeare when you can’t even speak one line correctly? That’s only because, you think English is a cool language and people will be impressed with your superb lingo. And they are not always wrong. They are sometimes right too, until they hear you speak.”

All three of us looked at each other silently without knowing what to speak. Old men were smiling. They knew someone was speaking their minds out. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask your name. I’m Naveen.” I said, offering my hand. “Call me Lebnox.” He said, shaking my hand and smiling. Such a hypocrite, I thought. Telling a fake name and talking about ostentatiousness.

Anyway, he at least was making sense. “Nice to meet you, Lebnox.” I said, with a pretentious smile. “Also, many relationships get spoiled cuz of it. You look smart but not your friend. But he gets more likes on his profile picture than you, that too without editing. You do lots of editing and try to look smarter but no one likes your pic. You develop jealousy. You have more hot girls in your friend list than your friend, and they post numerous naughty and cute things on your wall for everyone to see and your friend starts hating you for this. He will never admit it though. Never! Your status and comments get more likes than your friend’s status and comments, he may start to backstab you to reduce the number of likes.

But, you make lots of virtual friends in that process. And a very wise person once told me, the wonderful thing about virtual friends is, knowing they exist in real life.  So it’s always upto you. Who do you choose, real friends whom you know personally and who know everything about you. Or virtual friends who are always there to praise whenever you want them to. And, they only know good things about you and can fake anytime to make you feel their presence.” He finished speaking. At least I thought he finished. Moreover, I was afraid I’d deactivate my account after hearing these many things. I looked at my friends, they gave me Kya-bey-sada-diya look.

“At least there is no harm in having fun and using it as a stress buster. Or is there any?”My friend asked in an innocent and scared manner. Lebnox laughed. “Who am I to say you should do this or you shouldn’t do this? I was just putting forward my views. But if you seriously want to know what’s on my mind, I’d say, everything should be done in a controlled and a light manner. Do not make it your obsession; do not develop strong opinions just by having a look at anyone’s profile and also, try to interact more with new people in real life. That shall help you in a better manner. Adding random people on facebook won’t help in any way until you’ve a reason behind adding them. You cannot make a girlfriend just by adding any hot girl on facebook, if you know what I mean!” He winked. It was 1.30 A.M. Everyone was asleep. Even those really old people. “Did you update your status that you’ll be arriving tomorrow morning and boring times for others are over? Via Android?” He passed a boisterous laugh and suddenly stopped himself after looking around. I felt embarrassed. “Don’t worry, just keep those three things in mind which I told you and keep being an active Facebook member. There is no harm. Albeit there is lots of fun.” He smiled and finished. This time, actually! He went back to his berth and a few moments later he was asleep. I recalled all the things he said and closed my eyes. My friends started watching porn on their cellphones. Such addiction, I tell you. Such addiction.

PS: The writer loves facebook and is an addict and won’t stop editing his pics and flaunting his wits.

PS2: The writer has nothing against old people. In fact he respects them a lot. Also he doesn’t know who Lebnox is, incase people have intentions of murdering him.

7 Khoon Maaf:FAQ

We’re back! And we warmly welcome all of you on our show. After The Blue Umbrella, Vishal Bhardwaj again collaborated with Ace Short Story Writer Ruskin Bond this time and came up with Saat Khoon Maaf based on Suzanna’s Seven husbands. We don’t know about you all, but Lebnox, being our favorite is again here to review the movie.

“Err… You Okay Lebnox?”

“How do I look like?”

“You look kinda scared!”

“Kinda? How do you expect a guy who vowed to dream-marry Priyanka Chopra, look normal after he saw her marrying multiple times and murdering all her husbands the same time?”

“Err… You sure you’ll be able to sit for the interview today?”

“Pay me anytime to squabble about movies and I’m game!” He winked. Giving Devilish expressions. This time, we were kinda scared.

Q.1) Okay Let’s begin, describe the movie in one word.

Lebnox: (After thinking for a long time) Dark! (We could only hope that he was just thinking and nothing else).

Q.2) Does that mean good or bad?

Lebnox: Depends on one’s perception about the word ‘dark’. (He is still scared we guess.)

Q.3) How was Priyanka?Lebnox: (Now smiling) She was good. I mean, she has proved from time to time, that she is quite versatile. This time, she had to portray the character of a woman who longs for true love. And all she gets with her husband is insult, stress and torture. She, after much introspection, decides to kill him. Remember, she hadn't got her true love. Now, she meets another guy whom she finds attractive and perfect in first meeting and eventually they marry and again she discovers some dark and hideous secrets about her second. She tries not to give up this time and works hard to improve her husband’s condition. She fails. She kills. This cycle goes on and on and on. She ultimately becomes a psycho. This really tough role to play and she performed maturely and marvelously. Full marks to her. (The excitement in his tone was comprehensible).

Q.4) And how were others?

Lebnox: Neil Nitin Mukesh, like I always say, is growing with every movie and this one was not an exception. John Abraham actually looked like a rock star in his character. Irrfan Khan was good. Not very good I mean. Aleksandr Dyachenko was a big surprise as he played his character with a natural flair. Naseruddin Shah was superb. There were two exceptional performances. Anu Kapoor and Vivaan Shah. Anu Kapoor’s acting experience was visible as he was an absolute delight. Vivaan Shah having no acting experience and despite getting the main lead inthis big movie, was unperturbed about having big actors along with. You’re gonna love his innocence and performance. I guarantee. Usha Uthup was terrific and Ruskin Bond in his cameo was amusing.

Q.5) What about Vishal Bhardwaj?

Lebnox: Some were disappointed with him after Kaminey. I wasn’t. Some again will be disappointed after Saat Khoon Maaf. I’m not. I was happy with Kaminey. I’m happy with this one.

Q.6) What would you say about the music and cinematography?

Lebnox: Since when did you start asking this question? (Winked) The song ‘Darling’ was obviously awesome. Another song ‘Oh Mama’ was irritating and others were simply ignorable. Cinematography was brilliant. Priyanka’s expressions have been captured wonderfully. The sets and the colors used in the movie were super apt. And yes, the make up artist did an outstanding job. Simply outstanding!

Q.7) You seem to be normal now.

Lebnox: Is it a question? If yes, how am I supposed to answer it? (He passed an evil grin. We were embarrassed.)

Q.8) I did not mean that. Okay.So the movie is a hit?

Lebnox: Not super hit. But yeah it’ll do good. Certainly. Moreover, I want it to do good. Priyanka effect you know. But the review is not biased. Certainly not.

Q.9) I guess we might have to use much of our brain during the movie. Am I right?

Lebnox: (Chuckles)Why are you afraid that you might have to use your brain before watching any movie? It is not portable that you have to think twice before taking it along with you to the theater. Is it? (Winked) (He was sounding a little rude. We thought. But then we’ll pass. It’s cuz of him this show is hit. Isn’t it) No offense man, I was kidding, what will I be without your show? (Smiles. Everywhere) You don’t have to you use it. At least not until the last scene. The last scene was actually something!

Q.11) What will be the best part about Saat Khoon Maaf?

Lebnox: The interval message. Ha-ha! And yeah, of course Priyanka Chopra and Vivaan Shah. Count Anu Kapoor too.

Q.12) Final Verdict?

Lebnox: Many, may find this movie, tedious, boring, irritating, dark, disturbing or even disappointing. Actually not many, a few. But it is good. Believe me. If you do make sure that you’ll definitely try to understand Suzanna’s point of view. You’ll be satisfied with it.

And he left. May be he rushed back home to watch a comedy. He was acting weird today. May be cuz he couldn’t handle Priyanka marrying multiple husbands and ultimately murdering all of them. Such filmy man he is. And yes, he rated the movie 3.5 out of 5.