Chinese Zodiac (CZ12) movie review

After watching the film CZ12 (Chinese Zodiac 12) one has to agree again that Jackie Chan is a master of entertainment. The movie starts with a creative fight where JC (Jackie Chan) wears a suit with skate wheels, maneuvering under the jeeps, trucks, over the road side walls and inside the tunnels. The movie gets you involved here and the fast pace with which this action sequence proceeds is continued till the end of the movie.

    In CZ12, JC is not alone. He has a team of expert fighters and uses various gadgets to get his job done. First half of the movie is a mix of a loads of comedy and a few action scenes. Comedy sequences were so funny that the entire theater bursted out laughing loud and you are allowed to relax only during the interval break. Jackie Chan looks aged, was a bit slower in his moves at a few places; though not as creative as in his earlier movies, he managed to choreograph some good fights and remains successful in entertaining the crowd. Second half becomes a bit more serious with a lot of fights, some serious concerns, a light touch of emotions and less fun. If you are into action movies, then you can have fun across the movie length.

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Chung Wah Restaurant

Chung wah is a chain of chinese food restaurants in Bangalore. They have their presence in almost all the areas of Bengaluru.

    Not only chinese, they also serve other asian flavours like thai, korean and singaporean. The experience in chung wah is unique from the usual chinese food we get, with their wide range of soups, starters and main course.

    For main course they have in their menu varied forms of rice and noodles. Rice comes in combination of a variety of gravies and curries cooked in different styles right from chinese to thai, singaporian and mexican. And all these served either with vegetables or chicken or lamb. They also serve plain steamed rice and you can combine it with any of the gravies and curries. So, there is a lots of choice to choose from. Fujian Rice is my one favourite dish, which comes with rice blended with egg and served with hot gravy, mushrooms, softly cooked chicken and other chinese herbs and spices. Hot and sour soup unlike in other places is not too spicy. They just have the perfect blend of the sourness and spiciness served at the right temperature will be a good treat to your taste buds.

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Life of Pi movie review

    “You don't just watch this movie, you live it” - Peter Travers

    Life of Pi is a Hollywood movie directed by Ang Lee made in Indian context, based on a book written by Yan Martel. It narrates to us the story of a boy named after a french swimming pool, who gets caught in a storm along with a tiger on a life boat and survives it because of his tenacity.

    The movie throughout seems to be an Indian cinema shot in English. This feeling may be attributed to Indian actors, easily understandable dialect, simple dialogues and of-course the emotions it arouses in ones heart.

code : ZX7HV6CF587V 

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Rise of the Guardians movie review

Who are the Guardians, whom do they guard and from what?

    They guard the children of the world from fear and despair. They are there to spread happiness everywhere. Who else could have done it except for the friends of children - the very amicable Santa clause, amazing Ester bunny, sweet little tooth fairy, Dreamy - super cute Sand man and the hero Snowman John frost! But it is with the help of the children that they achieve this. How nice, isn't it?

    What a lovely group of angels to defend the wonder, hope, dreams, memories and belief! And what a beautiful way of unfolding the story!!

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Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum movie review

An interesting title. An interesting combination of hero and director! But phew...this falls into yet another disappointing telugu movie.

    The director krish who has to his credit two good movies like gamyam and vedam, has made a below par effort in making a film on social issues. He aspired to deal with two different issues and wanted to run them both parallel to each other; but he ended up not doing justice to either of them. That may be because he did not do enough research into the problem, all he has is an overview and that was not enough to make the script great.

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Damarukam Movie review

Damarukam is a socio – fantasy film from telugu cinema industry after a long time. So, it is with some amount of expectations of being entertained that one would go to watch this movie. What would a socio fantasy promises to deliver? Some magic, good music, a super hero, a very beautiful heroine, a powerful villain and above all lots of entertainment. Yet ‘Damarukam’ fails on all these fronts!

    The story is lame without any interesting twists or turns. The villain delivers some good dialouges but they are very few and at other times he does not seem to be making an impression! The character lacks wit. The Rakshasudu/Mantrikudu that we are used to see in all our good old janapada cinemalu will make villain of Damarukam even more placid.

   Even Nagarjuna is not very impressive, neither is his character in the movie. Anushka’s job is to just look beautiful, which she does but without the least traces of any acting skills. I wonder if this is the same lady who carried so well the character of Arundhathi! Prakash Raj as lord Shiva gives a good performance, though it is not of much use. His makeup is weird and does not carry that heavenly look.

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Talaash movie review

It is with lots of expectations that a movie like Talaash would be watched, not just because it was amirkhan productions but because it has its name associated with farhan akhthar and anurag kashyap as dialouge writers, zoya akhthar as a co story and screenplay writer! And ofcourse it has stars like amir khan, rani, kareena, naawazuddin siddiqui.....all these along with interesting trailers will make everyone wanting to watch the movie.

    But alas, I must say all that talent has not helped 'Talaash" to be a great movie. its just about okay.

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Trip to God's Own Country : Kerala

Christmas and New year time is a good time for a trip down to the beautiful state of Kerala,  The God’s own country!!

    During this time, the natural views of the valleys, tea estates, hills, sun rise becomes even more vivid and the climate would be cooler. Cochin comes to life to celebrate the Christmas eve, the fort kochi beach is all lighted up with decorative lights. Various carnival events are scheduled for the last week of December. Some of them include : dance show, rock show, angling competition, burning of big Santa Claus and fireworks for the new year night.

Trivandrum

    We have first reached Trivandrum city, as it is near to our next destination Kanyakumari. In Trivandrum, we booked our stay in Ginger hotel (Ph: 04716663333), which is maintained well, but is located outside the city. In the city, you get to see Military Ganapathi's temple, who is famous among the military people and is said to be a powerful god, because of which one would visit this little temple even before going to the bigger Anantha Padmanabaswamy temple, which is located near to it. In Padmanabhaswamy temple, men are allowed to wear only a dhoti. Purse, mobile phones, shirts are not allowed inside. And women have to wear chudidhar or a saree. If you are not suitably dressed, then you can pay a little fee near the entrance, to store your clothes and to rent a dhoti. Women in jeans are made to wear a dhoti around the jeans. Temple is open for darshan only at certain timings as mentioned below. Though you may not be allowed for darshan, you can still watch around the inside of the temple, which is big enough to keep you occupied for some time.

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Chakravyuh movie review

Chakravyuh, a Prahash jha film, is about ‘Naxalvar’.  Like his other movies, chakravyuh presents to us a very serious issue. A two and half hour screenplay, without wasting any time presents the different angles of the problem. Yet, seems insufficient. Why not, the issue chosen is such that it can not be ‘shown’ it has to be felt and to get to at least a basic understanding of it one needs to be open, compassionate and unprejudiced.

   Chakravyuh shows how much homework Prakash jha has done in the effort of bringing us a wholesome glimpse of Naxalvar and the counter action. He is right when he says it’s a war, a war even when its over will give no side a ‘Real Victory’.

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Oh My God movie review

Oh My God (OMG) is an apt name for the work of Umesh shukla. It tells us as a story of how fear and insecurities make people to act foolishly.

Oh My God is adopted from Kanji Virudh (vs) Kanji a Gujarathi play written by Bhavesh Mandalia and originally directed by Umesh shukla; has also made a great adaptation of theatrical play to the silver screen.

   The main theme of the plot revolves around various religious rituals that are generally followed, without rationale. The story starts when Kanji (Paresh Rawal) suffers a huge loss because of a mild earthquake (supposedly a God’s act!) and his insurance claim gets rejected because of the clause that “Insurance company is not liable for the acts of god”. Kanji who is an atheist feels deeply hurt by this and decides to sue God. When no lawyer accepts his case, a retired lawyer Hanif quereshi helps him out and Kanji sets out to fight his case for himself.

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Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu movie review

Cameraman Ganga tho Rambabu the name suggests that it’s the story of the duo who are media representatives and do efforts to expose untold stories and the underlying truths. But, the movie is nothing about journalism; it is about ‘Pawan Kalyan’ as Rambabu The hero, The savior, The God!

   “Rambabu Devudayya, Devudu” and so he is!! He need not abide by any logic, he doesn’t have to respect anyone, he can do wonders effortlessly, he can take bullets without pain and beat up as many goons as the villain gets (this is ofcourse the common ability of all our heroes), and sorry this is not the end of the miracles he can do, he can even become a top notch TV journalist without even knowing ABCs of Journalism, within a matter of days! Just because he speaks nonsense and he slaps people at his will. And the director guards him so carefully that for whatever he asks, the other characters always fail to answer. Most of the times they speak without brains and without thinking, so it is always easy for our ‘Rambabu’ to expose them.

   Cameraman Ganga in the title represents a lady, a camerawoman introduced to be doing good in her career. And Rambabu continuously ridicules her. Ganga in the hands of our director behaves in a way that helps Rambabu to establish that she is a fool. Neither the hero nor the director has any respect towards Women especially so if the woman is accomplished. Otherwise I do not find any reason in the way the female lead is characterized. The reason given as to why she is called cameraman Ganga instead of camerawoman Ganga is to show that she is not less than her male colleagues! This shows how naïve their understanding is of Gender issues. In another scene he makes fun of ‘Feminism’ & I doubt if they even know what it means.

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Corner House Ice Creams

After you have a good lunch, on a rainy day, when you are in not so good mood, when you want to celebrate, when you have craving for a sweet…the list goes on; whatever is the situation Ice creams are always a good accompaniments and especially so if it is a corner house ice cream.

   Corner house, an exclusive ice cream and sundae parlor is a boon to all the Bangloreans who love ice creams. Whoever tastes their ice creams would definitely fall in love with those wonderful flavors.

   Corner house offers a wide range of flavors, but sundaes are what make them stand out. The combinations of flavors they use to create their signature sundaes are just amazing!

   Almond fudge is my favorite sundae. Its plain vanilla ice cream served with roasted almonds and hot chocolate sauce. The almonds roasted to perfection, drenched in the rich hot chocolate sauce with the cool ice cream makes up for a great sundae and its taste lingers on your mind for a long time.

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Makki (Eega) movie review

Makki originally made in Telugu as Eega, is a hyped movie both for the new concept and for the director.

   The director Rajamouli is acclaimed to be the most successful director of present day Telugu industry. It is very much evident from his zero ‘flops’.

   Eega is based on punarjanm that is not at all new concept for Indian cinema. But the treatment given to the basic idea is entirely different and so the film is unique. Here, the hero dies and takes re birth in the form of a housefly and despite his tiny and powerless body challenges the villain and succeeds in destroying him.  So, definitely people will be curious to know how. This curiosity is what sells the movie to kids and adults alike.

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English Vinglish movie review

What a movie!
Yes, what a movie…

A movie that draws your attention makes you feel and get you thinking.
A simple story narrated in a beautifully effective way. Kudos to the Director.

   The issue of ‘spoken English’ might seem insufficient for a screenplay of two and half hours but, the writer – director Gauri utilizes the 135 minutes comfortably to tell us the story of Shashi, a typical Indian housewife, whose efforts, passion and amazing personality goes unnoticed by the family. The movie takes us through all those unspoken feelings Shashi faces time and again. Its not just about being unable to speak English, but also about all those sacrifices she makes of her little delights.

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Barfi Movie review

Barfi, in spite of its unique lead roles, is a usual love story set in the backdrop of Darjeeling of 1970s. The movie clearly is not about disabilities.

   Most of the stories in the Indian as well as the world Cinema revolve around a Super hero. Not just the movies but any story for that matter is spun around a bold guy and a beautiful girl.  May be because that’s what is more attractive. A few years back I read a story where the heroine, who is not attractive challenges the hero, a writer to write a story about an unattractive bad heroine. That story made me realize how much importance beauty or heroism holds in our stories. Even if its not stated explicitly it is deemed that the hero/heroine has certain pre-defined characteristics.

   But Anurag Basu has an altogether different story to tell. The hero is neither a rich man nor a strong one; he is just a good hearted and cheerful young person who happens to be deaf and dumb. Even one of the female lead is an autism-affected girl. But, the story doesn’t dwell on that subject. This is what makes the movie unique and lovable.

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Life is beautiful (telugu movie) review

Why is life beautiful? 
Because it has ups and downs, dreams to chase, friends to share moments and many more.

   Well, the film is all about these mixed feelings. And Sekhar Kammula chose to show case all these from the view of a young guy who shifts to city, into his relatives house, along with his sisters. In the course of the film he makes friends, involves in street fights, faces problems, learns to take responsibilities and also experiences love.

   The whole movie is set in the back drop of a gated community divided into a rich phase, called the Gold phase and a middle class one, the B phase.

   The director some how seems to be obsessed with the "rich-poor conflicts" among the youngsters of the two phases and creates a lot of situations for them to fight upon. The whole movie starts moving in that direction and our hero and his friends starts failing in their efforts to be on par with their rich counterparts. 

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Voyage to Ooty-Coonoor

Bangalore once had pleasant climate all though the year and it was one of the destinations chosen during the summer time. But for the past few years summers are more on the warmer side, because of which bangaloreans themselves are preferring to go to the cooler hill stations in the western ghats to spend their vacation time. Ooty is one of the famous hill stations located close to bangalore at 260Km, which is easily reachable by road. 

Ooty to Coonoor

   Best time to visit Ooty and Coonoor is during the peak summer time i.e March to May, as the temperature during this time is around pleasant 20 degrees, with beautiful misty sunrise and cold sunset.

   When i went there for the first time, i did research through online websites and filtered based on friend's suggestions. Before starting the trip plan, try hunting good deals provided by websites like :

• http://www.traveldealsfinder.com/
• http://timesdeal.com/bangalore-deals
• http://traveltriangle.com/
• http://www.travelguru.com/

And you can find good hotel reviews at :

• http://www.tripadvisor.in/
• http://www.holidayiq.com/

   Ooty can be reached from bangalore by bus, which can be booked via : Ksrtc or any bus ticket booking website. If you prefer flight or train (Bangalore Kanyakumari express), then plan to reach Coimbatore which has the nearest airport and major railway station. Ooty is well connected by road from here.

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Naturals Ice Cream Parlour

Naturals icecream started as a single store near juhu, in Mumbai now has almost 70 outlets across India, including 8 outlets in bangalore.

   True to its name, Naturals ice cream offers traditionally made naturally flavoured fresh icecreams. I have tasted this back in 2009 in mumbai and from then on I have been a fan of their flavours. Now very recently I have found from a friend that they have branches in bangalore!  I couldn’t wait to go back to those flavours close to nature.

   Flavours like tender coconut, papaya, seethaphal etc.. that they provide are not what one usually finds in other ice cream parlours. they sound odd but taste good 

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Ek tha tiger-movie review

"Tiger, is mission mein tumhe sirf observe karna hai, 

please yahaan kisi ko maar math dhena"

   Comedy is the first thing that clicks when you see the movie, both RAW and ISI seem to be powerless villains who can never win over the hero. The heroine for a change does some stunts and goes on her own for some time but finally Mr.Hero has to come back for rescue as usual!!

    And the climax shows their miraculous escape on a police plane as the two government's agents just stand waving them helplessly. May be the story writer or the director could not think of a logical sequence. So it seems to us that the film has ended abruptly and with an expectation of seeing more the audience stayed back for the masha allah song while titles were running in the background. Clever inclusion of a toe tapping melodious song at the end compensates a bit for the disappointment that was caused by the abrupt ending.

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Welcome to Leisurenama

Recently I have had a lot of time for ‘myself’ and it is in those silent moments that I felt an urge to write. And, I thought what should I be writing about.

So, I kept on postponing my idea of a blog.  This is what many of us sure would do. But when I had more and more of that leisure time, we explored as many options as are readily available for us to get entertained. From movies, shopping and outings to cooking and cleaning.

Believe me, its very tough to plan the weekends regularly!!  Weekends are supposed to be without a plan right?..... no, it is not, without a plan you end up doing the same thing over and  again. 

Planning a little ahead will open up a galore of options, with minimal fatigue, lower costs and ofcourse no chaos! We tried doing this with some research and also by exploring the options using the web. In this blog, we would like share with you all those experiences so that you could grab an idea to plan your leisure time ahead, to make it relaxing and fun.

Welcome to Leisurenama, for:
“Things that you can do when you have nothing else to do”
 Wish you a happy leisure time.

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