So last week, British rock band coldplay released the video of 'hymn for the weekend' featuring uncredited vocals from the Queen bey herself. The song is a single from their latest studio album 'A head full of dreams'. First things first, let's just take some time to appreciate how good the song is. It's absolutely pleasing to the ears and vocals provided by two of the world's biggest musical powerhouses- Chris Martin and Beyoncé are nothing less than a beautiful, magical, and melodious dream.
    Now, let's move on to the video. Its video was shot in Indian cities including Mumbai, Varanasi and Kolkata. When I was made familiar with the fact that its video was going to be shot in India, I knew it would have all the typical Indian stereotypes and boy, was I right! Everything you might expect a western video shot in India would have could be seen! You name it, we got it!
1. Sadhus on the streets. Check.

2. Half naked kids jumping around in ponds. Check.

3. Single screen theatres. Check.

4. People dressed up as gods and deities. Check.

5. Traditionally dressed women. Check.

6. People playing holi. Check.

7. And this guy....

    Obviously, as Indians, we had to be offended because come on, the most Indian element to the video could be provided only by us Indians and that is by taking offence. Many complaints began surfacing like,"India is always portrayed in a very bad light, only the poor India is featured, not everybody dresses up as gods". Well guess what, many of us do! These things and practices are not that obsolete as of yet. And secondly, there is nothing wrong with it. India is known to be the land of gods and yes, we do celebrate our culture and heritage a lot, up to the point that people outside of India notice it. And that's what makes us unique, different from the rest. If they had to shoot skyscrapers and highways, why would they have bothered to come to India for that? Every country has them and so it's natural of coldplay to show the unique, vibrant, and colorful side of India. I realise that there is much more to India than what was featured, but then again, it was not a video for Mumbai darshan or India's tourism. Not everything can be summed up in a 4 minute video. Why Chris Martin would opt for a single screen theatre when there are multiplexes around is beyond my understanding, but he did! Do we really need to know why? So, instead of getting butthurt by every single thing, just enjoy the song and its colors and magic!

Airlift: Movie Review

Synopsis-
  Airlift is a story which is heavily inspired by true events and is based on the largest evacuation attempt ever recorded in history. The movie revolves around the political tension between Kuwait and Iraq and its repercussions on countless innocent lives, but mainly the one of Ranjit Katyal. The movie is set in 1990's timeline and is very convincing and true to that era.

Cast & Performances-
    We have seen Akshay Kumar do all kinds of movies. He has starred in decent movies, mediocore movies, as well as some down right unbearable crap fests. But having said that, he has always more than compensated with brilliant, brave and entertaining cinema like special 26, holiday, baby and now airlift. In this movie, he plays an extremely professional and yet eccentric kuwait-based businessman, Ranjit Katyal. His performance is phenomenal and very believable. He has captured, harnessed, and displayed wonderful emotions which really propels the feeling of patriotism and thus fulfils the primary purpose of the movie. His character changing from a cold and calculating man and being moulded into a more vulnerable and soft human is heartwarming and makes him relatable.
   Nimrat kaur, plays Ranjit's wife, Amrita katyal. She delivers a more than decent performance and leaves no room for complaints. She seems very confident with her work which is quite evident from her dialogue delivery and conduct.
    The rest of the cast also does a great job and boasts seasoned actors like Purab Kohli, and Kumud Mishra. However, the ones who steal the show are Inaamulhaq who plays Major Khalaf bin zayd, who provides an unintentional but much needed comic relief mainly because of his accent, and Prakash Belawadi, who plays the obnoxious George Kutty. He is so convincing that we tend to despise him more than the Iraqi military which is literally on a killing spree.

Verdict-
    I rate the movie 4 out of 5 stars and recommend everyone to watch it. Great performances coupled with realistic and organized story telling makes this movie worth your bucks. The only concern is that a lot of plot advancement happens at a relatively faster pace after the interval as compared to before. Many pivotal plot points seem to have crammed after the interval, but it certainly does not affect the movie experience for the common movie audience. I refrain myself from going into the technicalities as I believe that cinema is not made only for the critics, but mainly for the common movie loving people like you and me. Have you seen the movie? What are your reviews? Thank you for reading!
    
   

God

    God, the supreme power, the one above all, has had a vast influence over mankind which is quite astonishing considering the fact that none of us can actually claim to have seen god. His impact has been such that humans have segregated themselves in different religions and further on a more personal level into theists, deists, atheists and agnostics. But have we really known or understood who exactly is god? Or should we be asking 'what is god'? Many may question the very existence of god. So do we have an answer?

    In my opinion, god exists and I have reason to believe so. Here is a short story I had stumbled upon which convinced me. Once a scientist was travelling in a train and he saw a man reading the bible. Very condescendingly the scientist asked the man, "why do you still believe in god when science has progressed so much"? The scientist then handed his visiting card to the man and asked him to make an appointment with him so he could educate him about science. Later, the man revealed his identity to the scientist and to much of his surprise, the man turned out to be Thomas Edison. The scientist then apologized and requested for a meeting with Edison in his office. Edison agreed. At his office, the scientist saw a perfect replica of our solar system. Admiring the perfection, he asked Edison whether he had made the model. Edison said that nobody had made it. He further added saying that one day he opened the doors to his office and it was lying right there on the table. To this the scientist said that it isn't possible and someone must have made it. Edison replied,"If you don't believe that this small model cannot be created without anybody's help, then how can you expect our real solar system to have been created without a creator"?

    Here lies our answer. We have never seen god or felt his presence physically, which leads us to believe that God may not be a person or a being after all. One can perceive god to be an abstract force causing everything there is, to be. God may not necessarily govern our fate as many of us tend to believe and hence, worshipping god may fetch you nothing. To simply put it, the force or the very reason behind the creation and existence of literally everything, is God. What is your take on god? Please do share your views and Thank you for reading!