A taste of the senses

If you ever want to feel utterly helpless and feel emotionally spent by the end of it, this is the experience you would want to read about. I mean in a good way. In fact, a bloody fantastic way!

My friends and I had the opportunity to visit this restaurant at Inorbit Mall, Hyderabad called Dialogue in the Dark. I'm aware that this concept isn't totally novel. However, I believe, in this day and age, what with the first thing we do when we wake up being looking at our phones, a dine-in meal in utter darkness is an experience worth leaving phones, spectacles and watches at the door.

The picture outside the door said 'Your senses make your world beautiful... It's time to awaken them.' There couldn't be a better sentence that would describe the experience we had at the restaurant.

Let me start from the beginning. When we left all our belongings in a locker outside the restaurant, we weren't really sure what we could expect out of a generic looking reception, where we were given some general directions and taken into the restaurant. That's what it was all about, though. We were to leave our sight at the door, with our attitude that we would be able judge everything we see.

We were slowly seated at a table. Rajender, our guide, remembered all our names and even turned to us correctly. With a completely blind staff, it's their impeccable training and customer service that has build this brand for the company. The food that we were served was, however, not anything to really write home about.

The highlight of our meal, however, was something that we probably paid for unwittingly: an opportunity for a conversation. We had been drowning in a sea of assignments, internship applications and career choice questions when we happen to go to the mall looking for a bite to eat. The absence of anything but the sound of each other's voice and a sense of proximity didn't bring up difficult or stimulating conversations. It did, however, change something between us. Like a non-verbal can of fresh orange juice was opened and was taking us along in its cascade of imagination. We asked each other where we thought we were. We let our imagination run wild! We could make that dark little restaurant any thing we wanted, as long as it lived in our imagination. The feeling of having this kind of power of imagination has left me high on the experience.

I cannot imagine all people being able to appreciate this restaurant equally. However, if you like new experiences and are comfortable sitting in utter darkness, do make sure to go here. Dialogue in the Dark has many branches around the world and can be experienced in a very similar manner in most of them.

I'm glad to have gotten this opportunity and want to wish you good luck if you choose to visit the restaurant!

Doomed to fail

What if you know your relationship with a friend is doomed to fail?

You care too much to organically let things happen and you blame yourself for their sadness.

You stay away.

You don't want to be brave and accept that you need them. Just the sound of their voice makes you want to do everything they say and you thoroughly despise yourself for letting them have so much control over you.

You stay away.

You hurt them but you think they are better off. Actually, all you are doing is setting them up to becoming more cynical.

You understand their vulnerability, the one that they are too proud to admit. So, you don't suggest it at all. This is one person you know is enough for you and you feel like even if all the wonderful people weren't there, the absence of this one person would tear you apart.

This scares the shit out of you. So?

You stay away.

You think you are doing this for your own good. Are you really? You know you've hurt them but you don't know how to make it right.

You are too scared to admit how much they mean to you lest they are scared away themselves. So, what do you do?

You do the whole god-damn thing again. You make them feel like you don't care. It all goes over again.

You stay away.

You are doomed to fail.

What do you do?

Education and Empathy

There is a very popular Kannada proverb that, when translated, says, 'Travel or read'. Understanding the diversity of our environment, either by reading different stories or experiencing them, educates us to better accept and empathise with people around us.

Among various other philosophies that educate and guide people to live their lives in certain ways, in my opinion, this particular proverb encompasses the essence of knowledge the best. In my experience as a volunteer at various educational facilities, a wide scope of travel and reading helps not just in broadening one's horizon, but also in making better decisions that impact other human beings.

Unfortunately, this requires a lot of disposable resources and there are many talented people in the world who do not get the opportunity to explore their talent in various arenas because of a lack of resources.

Fund-raising is one activity, but the real lack of resource amongst us, today, is a lack of empathy. It stops us from providing the right things to the right people at the right time. Again, this is a vicious cycle of lack of knowledge and empathy that keeps repeating itself over and over again.
Even in large organisations, with access to so much information, a lack of knowledge is very common.

As a trainer and mentor in my previous organisation, I met with many people who had wasted years thinking that there could be nothing they could do to solve their problem, when all they needed was a little education. This could very well translate to me and my lack of knowledge for various things.

What is important, though, is that while a situation cannot be understood with the resources one already has, seeking new possibilities is a must, and this needs a lot of confidence. Let me stop right here or I may go into another tangent of how belief in an object makes it more true than when the object is not known to exist, even if it does.

The point of this whole write-up is that while education is important, the resources to access it is what we as a society must be able to provide for each other.

Life experience without work experience

Heartache bothers us all.

Whenever, and I promise I don't mean this lightly, I feel like I've begun to get attracted to someone, it soon turns out that they've been feeling not so hot towards me or even noticed how I feel. The latter is probably because I'm super insecure and awkward and may be too scared to actually project it.

So, what happens when I see that they don't feel the same or that they do but for someone else? A cycle of jealousy, 'why not me?', self-hate, general hate, self-pity, self deprecation and finally, acceptance of my short-comings runs all over again like a film in a broke film theatre with dying equipment and scenes get stuck.

I'm in 'self-hate' right now. So, to detach myself from the situation and be writing this is quite the challenge but an interesting one at that. Yeah, yeah. There was someone and that did not do too well for me. While I feed the lonely void in my heart with this mindless incessant typing, let me tell you something that I wish someone tells me every time I get into this situation: "It will always suck when you see your goal and find the roadmap, but, you don't have the night lights or the support system to realise the utility of the roadmap to get straight to the goal." This requires both divergence and convergence of thought. In business, like in any aspect of life, one has to back off and really see the big picture.

With the guy I had a crush on, it hurts when I see that it's going elsewhere. So, all I had to do was step back, take a deep breath and actually look at it as a human thing while making a decision to manage the emotional connection while keeping certain emotions in check.

Yudh - Episode 19 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

The penultimate episode starts to unravel much of what was setup in week one and two. I'm going to ignore weeks three and four because it felt like more of a filler than a continuation of the story.

Since this was the episode before the finale, it was rightly high-in-action and had a lot of drama. Some of the reveals were interesting and some just weren't. However, this episode got better towards the end.

In this episode, Rishi's character, although with lesser screen time than usual, got an interesting push, further than his has ever been. Ajatashatru and Rishi were, in this episode, the most interesting characters. Although, they could've cast a better actor for the role of Ajatashatru, he does manage to put up the underplaying mastermind character decently. Of course, the actor seems more uncomfortable in this character than in his "Taruni's Fiancé" role. His portrayal was, however, much better in episode eighteen than episode nineteen.

I, particularly, enjoyed the Inspector in this episode, who not only exhibits great levels of intelligence, but adds some comic relief to the whole show. Zakir Hussain as Anand was great, as usual, but his scenes were actually overshadowed by the Inspector.

There were two scenes where I was surprised with the level of violence shown. One was the scene with Anand's son trying to play with his mother with a real gun and the other where Ajatashatru kicks Taruni in the stomach multiple times. Both these scenes, I feel, did not deserve the amount of blasts and kicks it received. If it was just an exaggeration to raise the number of viewers or a genuinely required aspect, it is yet to be discovered and I will reserve my opinion over it till I see the finale.

Based on the previews of the finale, it seems like most of the episode will be a face-off between Yudh and Ajatashatru. What it really is will be seen in the finale of Yudh, a promising yet mildly prolonged TV mini-series, which will help other producers to take up scripts that are much more challenging and engaging than the regular hum-drum of Indian Television (CID plays for, approximately, six hours a weekday!).

Robin Williams - The Genie.

I remember the first time I ever watched Alladin. Despite the very handsome Ali, the demure Jasmine, the very clever and dangerous Jaffar, the wise-cracking parrot and the utterly lovable monkey, there was one character that brought charm and heart to the movie. The Genie was crazy, classy, extremely intelligent, funny, sassy and a downright whack-job. He was also Ali's best friend and shared amazing chemistry with the magic-carpet. The Genie was noble, humble and understanding. At  age seven, I would've done anything to be his best-friend!

I was such a big fan of the Genie that when, seven years later I had the opportunity to own it's DVD set, my younger cousins, nieces and nephews would come over to visit, I would always coax them into watching Alladin, the movie, thinking it necessary education to know and understand the Genie, like a silly rite-of-passage with me. If they found Ali more fascinating than the Genie, I would get cross wondering why they wouldn't see the brilliance of the blue angel, shifting shapes and dancing proudly with his paunch out! They would wonder the same about me, though.

Years after watching countless Robin Williams movies, the cheesy, the whacky, the really bad ones and the brilliant, and while looking up a movie a friend had recommended, I stumbled upon Robin Williams' IMDB page. It said "Died: August 11, 2014 (Age 63)" right above an image of him with an Oscar. I didn't quite process it at first glance until I saw the date. It was yesterday! A whole day since the blue and hook-nosed genius passed and the world was continuing to turn. The wars that were being fought were continuing on, the unhealthy bureaucracy of various governments continued to exist, planes crashed, people died, people were born, babies cried, my mother continued to nag me about all the things I was supposed to do but haven't. A Genie's voice had ceased to exist but it's words and humour hadn't.

After all the singing, dancing, screaming, laughing, stoically watching, times of Robin Williams, in my mind, I cannot think of a more perfect fit than the Genie to the genius Robin Williams. Of course, there have been Rathbones/Cumberbatches to Sherlock Holmeses, Tennants to Doctor Whos, Amitabh Bachchans to Vijay Deenanath Chauhans, but Robin Williams was the human incarnation of the Genie. He will always be that for every child and adult who has grown up falling in love over and over again with that movie. Thank you, Robin Williams, for colouring mine and a billion other childhoods that fun colour of blue! Hope you find immense joy wherever you go on from here.

Yudh - Episode 17 review. Beware of minor spoilers :-)

The last week of an Indian mini-series, a first after a long time! Yudh's seventeenth episode promises much and delivers quite a bit of that chunk! Ha! Surprise! Yes, after a long time, an episode of Yudh aired that wasn't just tolerable, but was good!

In fact, this episode was so good that my dad, my Yudh watching companion, and I were, quite literally, on the edge of our seats. This episode was so good that the actors in supporting roles, for whom there was either no real purpose in the show or their potential was not being fully utilised, fit perfectly! Now, this episode was so good that it set up for all the big plot bits to be fully solved for the story. Finally, this episode was so good, that, in fact, it solved the most dragged out bit of storyline in this entire series, the mining plant story!

Thank god for the dramatic crescendo beginnings and endings create, because if not for that, I'm sure the story would have been stretched further into areas not meant for the show to enter, just like the countless TV shows on Indian Television today.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, an actor I hoped would join the show earlier, was barely on screen and seems to have done it more as a favour to Anurag Kashyap than for anything else. However, I hardly seemed to have missed him this episode due to the back-in-form Mr. Bachchan and, surprisingly, Pavail Gulati.

Speaking of Pavail Gulati (Rishi Sikarwar), I especially liked the way the makers went about solving the Mining Plant plot problem. It was subtle, unspoken at times and, most importantly, an opportunity they grabbed than creating a long-winded melodramatic moment!

After two weeks of mostly mediocre acting and confused writing, Yudh broke out of the shell, tonight, and returned to its more straightforward story-telling of Week 1 and Week 2 (first 8 episodes). Hopefully, this trend continues and this last week of Yudh leave it at a better position than the previous week.

Yudh - Episode 16 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

The sixteenth episode of Yudh had many framing Shanti Constructions and it's employees for terrorist attacks, fraudulent property purchases, supposed employee murder, the murder of a family member (although, that wasn't technically framing).

Yudh has started to really lose his cool by this stage. He even asks Rishi to take a month and close down the mining business. He is loosing the support of his top two advisors (media and operations) as they are both under the scrutiny of the law. He also loses Taruni as she asks to be relieved of her position as CEO.

Pavail Gulati, the actor who plays Rishi, was as unconvincing as a miserable man as an iron rod as a cushion. The acting and the storyline dropped a few notches in this episode, which is surprising as it is reaching its final episodes in the next week.

Unfortunately, it is really disheartening to see that a show capable of so much, what with a brilliant cast and two very talented executive producers, could not deliver what it set out to do.

I have been sitting in front of my pen and paper, waiting for a moment to pop up, in memory, that I truly appreciated, this episode, and there were just flashes of a few scenes like Mona's friend's reaction when Anand asks her if she can do something about Mona's legal problems or even an inspector going through abandoned fake police uniforms.

All in all, this episode was lack-lustre, to say the least, and hopefully, as always, the rest of the few episodes of Yudh won't be as tiresome.

Happy weekend! :-)

Yudh - Episode 15 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Conspiracies, spies and questionable, if not illegal, medical practices, episode fifteen of Yudh had them all.

It started off with Taruni seeking reassurance from her boyfriend about conducting a surgery that she has neither the training nor the qualification to do. As usual, since she is a supporting character of the TV show and she has a proven hero complex, she goes on to conduct the surgery. Although the issue was treated with some trepidation on the part of Taruni, it was still a little hard to digest. If I was in Yudh's place, I would have tried harder to look for an alternative surgeon. Or, at least, transported one from the nearest full-fledged hospital.

Aside from the fact that Taruni's surgical mask was hanging from her left ear and oops-wasn't-in-one-of-the-middle-shots, thankfully, slowly but surely, Yudh has come back to the fore-front. There was one really heart-felt scene where we see Yudh, in a moment of utter honesty, admits that it has all become a-bit-much for him and regretting some of his choices.

The episode ended with an army attack on the Naxalite group base, for which Rishi may or may not have been a cause. Rishi is upset that his informant/friend/mole from the Naxalite group has passed. This scene, in particular held a lot of dramatic promise that could not yield from the actor.

All in all, this episode was as average as it has been in the last few episodes, but not as cringeworthy as some of them. I'm looking forward to the Mona story-arc's solution since I have become quite intrigued by the character of Kapil. Apart from that, Yudh and Anand's final stand and position are somethings I'm curious about. The rest of the story, including the mining and the Maliks have, unfortunately, dimmed my interest in them.

Also, if you've watched the show or are in the process of doing so, please let me know in the comments of what you think of the show! Do you think Kapil will go scott-free? Do you think Anand can come to Yudh's rescue in his final moments? Write down your thoughts and we can discuss these on my next post.

Yudh - Episode 14 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Politics - commercial, judicial and personal - have coloured the show, Yudh, so far. Politics that are slowly eating away at Yudhishtir Siwarkar and, incidentally, at his family and friends.

Six episodes to go, after this one, and there are still many things that are cropping up every episode. I'm a bit worried that they won't have enough time to resolve all of them. I could be wrong and I hope I am.

My complains from the last two episodes are not unfounded yet, sadly. Yudh is still, mostly, sidelined as his world continues to crumble and he is barely more than a helpless observer.

Anand gets out of jail and that is still a mystery as to why he was in jail and then let out with equal ease! Rishi starts to investigate the mine blasts and with remarkably little effort, gets the man responsible in trouble. In the meanwhile, Nayan decides to go to Rishi because, well, she is as tired as we are with all the shenanigans Shanti Constructions has had to ensue.

Yet, there was one scene that I admired quite a bit and it was the one where Taruni's parents sit Taruni down and give her a very solid reason as to why she should discontinue her active connection with Yudh. I thought that scene made a lot of sense given that, in the utterly small world they live in, her step-father is the one who is investigating Yudh's mentor, in turn giving ample evidence to audit Yudh as well. However, you would think that would raise some red flags in Taruni's mind, but there she is by his side, by the end of the episode.

The show didn't grow much from last night, as it did just deepen the mystery. My dad and I had quite a debate about where this show is going and was pleasantly surprised to see that I wasn't the only one to see the amount of potential this show has, but sad to see it not being realised. Six more to go.

Yudh - Episode 13 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Happy Belated Friendships' Day! :-)

Episode thirteen has very few scenes where Yudh is present and even fewer where he matters. Of course, the show has taken up some very interesting plot areas with Rishi investigating the happenings around their mining project and Anand being caught up in the death of an accomplice in the murder of Junior Malik. However, the brilliance of Yudh has been missing in the last few episodes. I know that I said that it would be good for the supporting cast to take centre stage, but it's been far too long since the plot was centred on Yudh more and less on one incident that they seem to be dragging far too long!

Zakir Hussain had a brilliant scene with a policeman and, although he isn't seen much without Yudh or his work, a lot of his performance unveils many aspects of the character that are veiled behind "Anand, the man flanking Yudh's right side."

Another thing that is a bit contradictory to me is Nayan's character. Her chemistry with Yudh, while easy and, at times, nicely domestic, barely reveals anything about their relationship. She seems to be constantly at a cold war with people and herself regarding her son. Sure, many people may be able to resonate with some of her emotions of concern towards her son, confusion and exasperation with the business problems, she doesn't seem to be so much dealing with them as she is just staring them down with kohl lined eyes.

Although I haven't reached the stage where I can say "forget it!" to the show and stop watching it, gaping misses in character development and plot holes have left me a bit exasperated. Yudh's only redeeming quality, at the moment, are some of its actors and, to a certain extent, it's witty dialogues. Hopefully, it does get to it's earlier "good" place before it ends and doesn't feel like a very different show from when it started, which it is doing now.

Yudh - Episode 12 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

First of all, sincere apologies for this much of a delay in getting this review together! No excuses for the delay and I promise it won't happen again!,

Now, let's dive into the episode!

The last episode was a much slower affair than this one and rightly so. Like I said earlier, it was quite obvious that the sudden dip in pace was not unwarranted. This episode was both better paced and more alert in the path it was taking the story.

The concerns regarding a conflict of interest with Taruni being the figure-head of the organization was played out well by Sarika. The subtler undertones of Rishi's dilemma to prove himself either by emulating his father or solving his father's problems is quite nicely done!

If I have just one real complaint with this episode, and the way the series is going, it is just that there are times when some scenes don't necessarily have to be there. They seem to be adding extra burden to an already heavy plot! At this point, even the joker they keep adding in between seems forced, since the centre story has shifted well away from Yudh to the Mining story. Of course, keeping a story focused on one main character is never easy, but, a sub-plot taking the centre stage while the character becomes only a participant is a serious concern.

I have said that the makers made a smart decision by having a 20 episode series, instead of a shorter one, since it would give them ample time to explore a lot of the supporting characters and their plots. However, the series is fast adding too many complications, subduing the role of Yudh substantially!

Sorry!!! Thanks!!!

Due to my own bad time management and some unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to watch the twelfth episode of Yudh! It will be on Sony Liv tomorrow. The first thing tomorrow morning will be me working on getting this review up.

Another thing I wanted to tell you guys is that I turned 24 today! A whole day of lazing around and a really nice evening out! Thanks to all my friends for making it really special today!

Loads of love! :-)

Yudh - Episode 11 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Ah! This was one of the laziest episodes so far! I usually like it when I get to watch the occasional slow movie or television bit while lying down on the diwan. Today was not so because of a simple case of over-eating my dinner (bad idea! Very bad idea, indeed!) it almost felt like show was just not moving! Although, I'll gladly accept fault this time and not blame the show. Objectivity was not at its best tonight!

However, the episode did have some nice emotional undertones: Mona's desperation in regard to her brother-in-law's case and Rishi's resolve to fall into step with his father instead of against him were portrayed really well. Episode to episode, Mona is becoming more of a hero and I'm quite enjoying that sub-plot!

This episode's main plot-line was of how the minister knew that Yudh didn't have any hand in the village-fire and was still planning to frame Yudh for it, which somehow was rendered unsuccessful.

There really wasn't much material in this episode and was, probably, meant more as a set-up for something bigger for the coming episodes. Like I said earlier, it has been a smart move on the part of the show makers to get such episodes in between to help tell the story in a wholesome fashion.

Yudh - Episode 10 review. Minor spoilers for this and earlier episodes.

We are halfway through the series and I still haven't felt like abandoning it! Yay! :-)

Episode ten starts off with Yudh and the minister having a conversation, setting up for a face-off most likely, in the typical "Don't screw with me! You wanna screw with me? You really wanna screw with me?" fashion. Well, when you have an accomplished director and an actor whose life and work are the stuff of legends, you are bound to have a great mood setter!

As the episode went on, like I said earlier, Mona's brother-in-law got quite creepy and involved himself in a trade-off with the Malik-Excalibur Club Owner duo. If I feel like I need to reach into the TV screen, wrap up a man in cellophane tape like a mummy and throw him in a river, yeah, the actor is good! (Really not that violent! Just deep dark thoughts *tee hee*).

Taruni's and Mona's characters got a sufficiently deserved BAMF status in tonight's episode. The earlier spark exhibited by both the characters, when they were introduced, was brought back to life tonight! Taruni, especially, had a nice moment where she went all CEO on the Shanti Construction quarters' caretaker and all responsible doctor on the villagers in a truly badass way!

The story has gotten somewhat complicated now. Here's what we know so far: Yudhishtir Siwarkar is the owner of Shanti Constructions, a huge construction conglomerate (dabbling in mining as well, as far as we've seen). Yudh is battling with Huntington's disease, a disease for which there is no cure and is getting progressively worse as the show progresses, with occasional panic attacks and hallucinations. Yudh is also battling the government, his competitors and the media to run a smooth and profitable business. Helping Yudh with his efforts are Anand, who I'm guessing is the COO and Mona, who must be the PR person for Shanti Constructions. All three, Yudh, Anand and Mona, have their own family dramas to deal with, which, occasionally, get mingled with the main plot (Phew! That's the show from ten episodes!)

Frankly, I'm glad that they've decided to take twenty episodes, instead of the twelve or thirteen that mini-series in India usually take. These extra episodes will give the makers sufficient time to address all the unresolved plots and still have some time left to add suitable accompaniments here and there

Yudh - Episode 9 review. We are back to minor spoilers, now!

Hello! Welcome back from the last weekend of July! (The Queen - my queen, Jo Rowling's - birthday is coming - the last day of the seventh month arrives!) Two weeks in and Yudh is still a growing force, episode to episode, showing a lot of potential growth. However, it's been so that there has not been an episode where I've completely lost myself in the show and marvelled my luck that I got to watch it. Yes, Yudh has far to go to get that "epic" status. Yet,the fact that it has the potential to do so is, in fact, a device for hope. Of course, thank god for that!

As performances go, tonight's episode nine was a better affair than the last one; Tigmanshu Dhulia and the actor who plays Mona's brother-in-law (Aargh! I'm so bad at names! Sorry! :-( ) had brilliant cameos in this episode, both of whom, incidentally, playing sneaky grey assholes.

After all the drama of last week, with the Naxalite-Yudh war in the background of an "accidental" dynamite blast at the mine, this episode had the workers, who were led by the Negotiator (told you I was bad with names!), hold a demonstration in front of the mine plant. To deal with this issue, Yudh went traipsing down to the mine making a ton of promises of benefits to the workers, nullifying the effect of the Naxalite efforts to rally the workers to go against the construction company. The speech delivered by Amitabh Bachchan to the workers was one of passion and conviction, but not entirely blind compassion. Amitabh Bachchan's performance in delivering this was the high point of the episode!

Barring a few "wow" moments, tonight's episode, while much better than the last one, was not even reaching the mark left by the show in its middle episodes. An average performer, but satisfactory nonetheless (Have gone a bit British Cricket Commentator after a whole day of watching the test match today. Please excusing the convoluted sentences, please! Thank you!).

Yudh - Episode 8 review. Quite major spoilers this time!

Rishi is still kidnapped, Yudh and his family have gone to rescue him and the Naxalites have a whole host of demands they want fulfilled by Yudh. Episode eight of Yudh has one main focus - Operation Yudh's Son is Kidnapped (bad name, sorry!)

Since the whole episode was centred around one plot point, I thought it would be best to recap before going into the actual review: The Siwarkars are looking for Rishi and we are given an account of both the atmosphere at the Siwarkars' and the interaction between the Naxalite group and Rishi. We see that first, Yudh agrees to all of the group's demands, but, in a power play, the group raise their demand. Circumstantially, Rishi is rescued by a couple of boys who he plays Galli/Ground Cricket with. Yudh broadcasts that Rishi was let go after a payment of 20 Crores and the Naxalite group and the Negotiator are pissed. The Negotiator engineers a blast at the mine and there are casualties (Ha! Told you, didn't I Mr. Bachchan? See - Kaala Pathar. Like you could listen :-P). Yudh decides to close down the mining plant and start an inquiry into the blast. He also suggests building a medical facility near the mining facility to gain a vote of confidence with the workers, who, by the way, are now rebelling against Yudh.

A few things I noticed were: the Negotiator is more diabolical than the leader of the group, Taruni has one expression plastered on her face (of course, her character has been going through the same predicament from the beginning and is seeming highly uni-dimensional at the moment), the fact that Shanti Constructions chief and second-in-command were not adequately aware of the political scene in the area around the mining plant struck me as very odd (how could a successful business not make such a rudimentary check?) and the character Rishi Siwarkar is WEIRD to say the least (the boy is too unfazed and it seems a little unrealistic)!

All in all, I felt like tonight's episode was disappointing, in that it was covered with a blanket full of plot-holes and cliches and brought down the show's pace and quality big time!

Yudh - Episode 7 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Episode 7, here we go. (Sigh) I'm getting rather tired of the same commercial advertisement appearing in every episode break. Getting back to tonight's episode of Yudh, the Naxalite related plot finally came into full view and the kidnapping of Nayan and Yudh's child, Rishi, took place, something the show has been teasing will happen for a while.

The episode started and ended in a quick manner. The build up to Rishi's kidnapping, especially the scene just before the incident (fireflies!), is spectacular! I wasn't sure how they would be able to carry it out and it seemed like a good enough explanation as any.

Among the few things that were noteworthy about this episode, the most prominent one was Yudh naming Taruni the next CEO of Shanti Constructions. Why that was noteworthy was because of something that Taruni's boyfriend quite clearly explains: Why would Yudh put Taruni in the front line knowing that Taruni, an oncologist, has no business running a construction company? Even if Yudh is delusional due to his illness, it still does not add up. Maybe, future episodes will provide further clarity into this.

Another thing, actually two things, that stuck with me from tonight's episode were the building frustration in Anand's wife and Mona's predicament regarding her brother-in-law who, by the way, does a brilliant job playing the innocent-but-creepy character. Both these moments from this episode left me wanting to know more about these independent stories, something that could be possible, in future episodes.

However, tonight's "brilliant" moment was, actually, Yudh's conversation with the negotiator between Yudh and the village-folk where Yudh's mining project is being undertaken, with regard to two kids being held behind bars as suspects in the kidnapping of Rishi Siwarkar. The writing in this scene shows a brilliant amalgamation between worlds where striving for the greater good, while stepping on a few toes and rules is a norm, but each world is equally appalled by the other's tendency towards it (negotiator suggests that the Siwarkars delay in looking for Rishi so its consequences can result in the village-folk having negative opinions against the Naxalites).

Although tonight's episode was able to maintain its pace and continuity in terms of its story, it ended rather abruptly. Maybe because I didn't notice the time or that I was quiet engrossed in the show, I was quiet shocked with the way it ended. This episode was without times where one felt an obvious WTF, but was definitely one that would continue to nag at the back of one's mind wondering about it. Quite a few shades, we have seen of the show, so far. Thirteen more to go! 

Yudh - Episode 6 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

All this while I kept feeling that the show was getting more interesting as it advanced, but I was not prepared for the WTF I witnessed tonight! Seriously, WTF? Not that I haven't seen my fair share of twists before, but tonight's episode brought about its twists when I least expected it! (No, I'm not going to explain that moment and spoil majorly when I've warned only for minor spoilers!)

There was this sudden break in atmosphere, an unexpectedly pleasant one, when there was a sudden death, a not-so-subtly suggestive scene of varying sexualities (surprising how well Hindi entertainment is treating this topic - Dedh Ishqiya) and a typically Anurag Kashyap scene when a man took a selfie with Mona, whom he had incapacitated earlier.

Yudh finally calls a press conference to explain his illness and make an attempt to stop all the problems this secrecy is causing. This press conference is brought on at the suggestion by Taruni. Taruni starts to find it difficult to explain her inclination to help Yudh no matter what, to her boyfriend. Taruni, like Yudh's doctor, gets an attempt on her life but escapes unscathed. This whole block of the episode, I realised, has a major issue I wasn't able to shake off - how come Yudh readily agrees to go public with his illness when Taruni suggests after taking such trouble to not let it happen and why are Yudh's doctors being targeted to get some information that Taruni's boyfriend obtained so easily?

In this episode, some of the parallel storylines took further shape without clouding the main storyline. The show proceeds to produce a mystery that seems to be much bigger than just the Malik-Siwarkar rivalry. That seems to be an interesting turn of events and is what, it seems, will likely fuel the next few episodes if not the rest (hopefully it is not some Moriarty-ruining-Sherlock's-legacy kind of a thing because Moriarty did it too brilliantly to be repeated :-P). Either way, 14 more episodes to go and I'm looking forward to them with much anticipation.

Yudh - Episode 5 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Lo and behold! The weekend is over and Mondays are a pain! Will the fifth episode of Yudh provide some respite to the start-of-week blues? Let's see.

The first 10 minutes has a cringeworthy moment and a really captivating one indicating that the show has still some potential that it is not reaching, which is both good and bad news. Good news because it means that an already good show can become better as the episodes go on and bad news because the producers actually overlooked the obvious faux pas of a fake british accent, especially to an audience who know much too well to not notice it.

After recovering from the attack of the fake Lagaan soldier, the episode actually got much better. The dialogues, scenes involving some of supporting actors (especially the ones with Anand and his wife and the one with Taruni and Nayan) are heavy with subtext and beautifully played by the actors, the writing and yes, Zakir Hussain, are all taking the show up a notch.

This episode had some of the supporting actors taking centre stage and giving the main plot a push from the flanks and thank god for that! Although a certain Mr. Bachchan is a genius actor to say the least, the show would have been an utter flop if it's cast, as a whole, did not render the support it is beginning to do now.

This show is not only important to its makers as a platform to showcase its story, but also to other writers to venture into such shorter stories (by Indian standards) with a better quality of written and physical aesthetics and, most importantly, find acceptance in that. Therefore, it is natural that the makers of the show feel some pressure to succeed.

However, tonight, the story that started off as a bundle of loose, and numerous, story lines has begun to come together and thankfully, after the initial blind bump, the show seems to be picking up in pace and is more entertaining than it was when it started last week.