Thanks Maa, Indian movie review

Cast: Shams Patel, Amit Saxena, Ranjit Barot, Alok Nath, Raghuvir Yadav, Yateen Karyekar and Sanjay Mishra
Director: Irfan Kamal

He’s 12, homeless and he refuses to adopt the swaggering amorality of his friends on the street. They call him Municipal Ghatkopar because that’s the address where he was dumped as a child. But he prefers to be known as Salman Khan. Strongly reminiscent of Mira Nair’s “Salaam Bombay” and far more resonantly representative of Mumbai’s slum kids than “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Thanks Maa” is a journey into lives that were born into despair.

Without the crutches of self-pity, debutant director Irfan Kamal enters the world of the orphaned protagonist Municipality who on one of those routine days of scavenging, stealing and hanging around with his friends waiting for the next meal, comes across an abandoned little infant.

Before we can say ‘Hey Baby’, the narration quickly swerves away from the cute and schmaltzy aspect of find-baby-will-coochie-coo kind of feel-good cinema to show the gritty harsh reality of life on the relentless streets of Mumbai and how it toughens the tender ones. Real fast.

Irfan Kamal makes one helluva departure from convention. He cruises the crowded areas of Mumbai with an eye for stinging details. The film hints hectically at the savagely insensitive quality of life lived on the streets.

Our young hero refuses to be like the routine scum. “Main tere jaisa nahin hoon,” he tells his more street-wise pals, and sets off on a determined path to find the lost baby’s mother.

It’s a heartbreaking enlightening journey undertaken by the director in a spirit of adventure, discovery and tranquility. Teeming with characters, “Thanks Maa” still preserves a core of stirring stillness at its centre.

Often you feel “Thanks Maa” is a romantic homage to the unbreakable spirit of Mumbai. But then you see the bitter and brutal truth about life on the fringes, as the young brave little hero is almost molested by the warden of the reformatory played by Alok Nath.

“Thanks Maa” is a tender yet ruthless look at a city that claims to have a place for everyone but somehow neglects looking after children who are vulnerable to every form of attack on the streets.

Quite frequently we look at Mumbai through the eyes of the little boy and his companions as they encounter a gallery of weirdos and wackos…an alcoholic hospital attendant(Raghuvir Yadav), a doped-out cabbie (Sanjay Mishra), a paedophilic reformatory warden(Alok Nath), a cheesy incestuous upper class father (Yateen Karyekar), an imposing eunuch (Jalees Shrawani) who offers to take the baby out of Municipality’s shoulder…an offer the boy firmly refuses.

The young hero’s shock and dismay when he finally finds the baby’s mother are so palpable they reverberate in our hearts long after the film is over.

The film has its flaws, the most glaring being the constant struggle to keep the homeless children’s story credibly contoured on the bustling streets. In many sequences, the young actor Shams can be seen carrying a doll instead of a baby. Also, because of the inherently dramatic nature of the theme some of the characters and situations lose self-control.

The jagged edges do not undermine the film’s unique and thoroughly unorthodox blend of realism and social message. While the veterans pitch in brave cameos that take the narrative forward to its heartbreaking conclusion, it’s the child actors who proudly occupy centrestage. All of them are so in-character, you wonder which came first, the slums or the camera!

Some of the editing (Amit Saxena) is uneven. But the camerawork (Ajayan Vincent) and background score (Ranjit Barot) add an extra dimension to this heartwarming tale of an orphan who won’t let another newly-born suffer his fate.

Teen Patti, Indian movie review

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley, R. Madhavan, Raima Sen, Sarah Mohan, Mita Vashist
Director: Leena Yadav

If you can get over the ludicrousness of a distinguished mathematician, whose god is Albert Einstein and who at the end of the film gets the ‘Isaac Newton Award’ for excellence in his field, masquerading as a seedy gambler, then “Teen Patti” is a surprisingly skilful and audaciously complex piece of drama.

It is a tautly-scripted and brilliantly executed film on the deep-rooted link between financial ambitions and moral compromises. Writer-director Leena Yadav gives the theme of monetary indulgence a dizzying but pinned-down spin. She speeds confidently across out-of-control lives on a college campus with the confident vision of raconteur who spins a seemingly indecipherable web of deceit, intrigue and crime.

Miraculously, Yadav’s yarn preserves its pencil-sharp edge of intrigue and wit right to the end. The story of the eccentric math-magician’s adventures takes the narrative from underground addas to high-class casinos where Professor Venkat Subramaniam, his junior colleague Madhavan and four students convert the professor’s newly-discovered mathematical theory into hard cash on gambling tables.

The plot reveals layer after layer of conspiracy until we come to the core idea.

The story unravels through an extended dialogue in Cambridge between Subramaniam and a British maths professor Perci Trachtenberg played by Bachchan and Sir Ben. Just watching the two distinguished baritones exchange notes on academia, life and their overlapping quirks is a pleasure that makes for full paisa-vasool viewing.

Alas, one of the baritones belonging to Ben Kingsley speaks in Boman Irani’s voice. And that too in Hindi! Why are the two professors huddled together in Cambridge speaking to each other in a language that suggests no tenability except a practical desire to make itself intelligible to Hind-speaking Indian?

“Teen Patti” targets its cerebral entertainment quotient at an audience that is willing to expand, and not suspend its disbelief. The proceedings charted by the intricate plot take the characters belonging to three generations through a smoky, compromised kingdom of the devil and the damned.

There’s a touch of Faustian wickedness in the way the old professor, his subordinate colleague and their four brightest students embrace hedonism. The parameters of what ‘is’ and what ’should be’ are almost blurred beyond redemption. The film gets its moral colour and texture from the technicians who seem to know the exact shades needed.

The death of one of the students (debutant Siddharth Kher) signals the redemptive overture in the plot. Siddharth’s ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ act with his girlfriend (Shradha Kapoor) is indicative of the places that youngsters want to visit in their fantasies. The nightmare is just a hop away from the dream.

From the mathematical and magical to the murky and immoral, Leena Yadav exercises supreme control over the goings-on. At any given moment the narrative is susceptible to collapse like a house of cards. But Yadav shows a grip over her characters’ dithering conscience.

Aseem Bajaj’s camera work is exquisite in delicate shades. The camera knows where it has to go and slips in quietly to capture a world that has lost its plot.

The songs and dances are edited with an eye for elegant economy. This director means business.

Many sequences such as the one where Madhavan says goodbye to his screen girlfriend Raima Sen are shot to suggest the edginess of a world that could topple over anytime.

Presiding over this world of infinite infamy is Bachchan. He portrays the ill-understood proclivities of the academic genius with a profound absence of brouhaha. Even as the world outside falls apart, Bachchan creates an unspoilt inner world for his character.

As for Sir Ben, the British actor’s clipped tone is gone. What remains is half a performance… Good enough.

Madhavan pitches in a bravura act with lots of furtive, nervous close-ups indicating a moral breach that could destroy the character any moment. The four newcomers are pleasant enough in the spaces provided for them. But given how well each of their character is written, none of them goes beyond the script’s requirements.

A pity. Because the film quite often transcends the written word to go into the realm of the abstract where the existential joys of mathematics meet more earthly pleasures. Surprisingly ingenious, “Teen Patti” is not so much about the cards that are dealt on the table as the ones that destiny doles out.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is meant to appreciate those who have the biggest but quietest influence in our lives. It can be Mother who balances work and home beautifully or grandma, sister, wife, teacher or any other woman. So go ahead d wish International Women's Day.

"Happy International Women's Day to all Ladies of the word" a message from World Mag Online.net

Sky is the limit for Pakistan’s women fighter pilots

Ambreen made Pakistani history by becoming one of the country’s first female fighter pilots, but on Sunday she was due to swap her flight schedule for an arranged marriage. “It’s all set and planned, but I haven’t talked to him,” she admits, her face scrubbed clean and wearing a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jumpsuit – a far cry from the make-up and ornate gown she’ll wear for the wedding.

The wedding between Flight Lieutenant Ambreen Gul, 25, and an engineer from Islamabad has been arranged by their families in the best Pakistani tradition. When she wakes up on Monday – International Women’s Day – she’ll be married to a man she has only seen once before and with whom she has barely exchanged a word.

Pakistan is a conservative Muslim country, where the United Nations says only 40 per cent of adult women are literate. Women are victims of violence and abuse, and the country still lacks a law against domestic violence.

But in 2006, seven women broke into one of Pakistan’s most exclusive male clubs to graduate as fighter pilots – perhaps the most prestigious job in the military and for six decades closed to the fairer sex.

Ambreen’s company manager father was delighted. Ironically it was her housewife mother who initially feared her daughter would bring shame on the family.

“It was because of our eastern culture. She thought people would say, ‘Why are you letting your daughter go out of the home?’

She and 26-year-old Flight Lieutenant Nadia Gul say PAF is a trailblazer for women’s rights. As respected officers with a 60,000-rupee-a-month salary, they are living out their dreams.

“It’s a profession of passion. One has to be extremely motivated. I love flying. I love to fly fighter jets, to do something for my country that is very unique,” smiled Ambreen, her hair stuffed into a pony tail.

Signing up aged 18, only a handful of girls beat homesickness and stiff competition to pass a six-month selection process and graduate after three-and-a-half years of training.

“It was the toughest time we’ve ever faced,” Ambreen remembers.

During a training flight on a Chinese-made F-7, she once blacked out for a few seconds before survival reflexes kicked in.

Nadia, whose army captain husband is serving on the front line of Pakistan’s war against the Taliban in the mountains of Swat, won a prize for academic achievement at PAF’s first women fighter pilot graduation.

“It was the first time. It was history,” she remembers, a bottle-green hijab covering most of her hair and tucked into her padded pilot’s jacket.

“I was just a girl who went to college and came back home, but now I’m in a great profession,” said Nadia.

Commanding male subordinates, they bat aside any question of sexism or men who don’t take kindly to being ordered about by a woman.

They love the respect that comes with official fighter pilot status in the armed.

“Families are very fascinated. Everyone’s very impressed,” says Nadia, describing her husband as “very supportive” and “proud”.

Forbes ranked Pakistan in 2010 as the fourth most dangerous country in the world. Officers say only a tiny elite – and no women – actually fly in combat in Pakistan’s tribal belt, a battleground against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

While PAF is outwardly very proud of its women pilots, some wonder privately whether women are strong enough to reach the top of the profession.

But flying transport and cargo planes, ferrying VIPs like cabinet ministers around the country, Nadia feels women’s lot is improving and takes issue with Western perceptions of Pakistan as backward. “PAF are giving us this chance on an equal basis. It was really a bold step that the Pakistan Air Force has taken in recruiting lady fighter pilots,” she said.

In a country where extended family is important and most middle-class women rely on servants for household work and child-minding, Ambreen and Nadia may be saved some of the problems faced by women in the West.

They believe marriage and – in the future – motherhood can complement, not replace, a career, “provided you have a supportive family.”

DAWN

Breast Enlargement with Exercise, Diet and Creams

Alternative breast enlargement treatments include body massages and hypnosis. The massage techniques usually involve swishing actions that are gently used for better results. The breast enlargement massages prove to be effectual to promote breast firmness and toning especially when practiced daily and used in conjunction with the breast enlargement creams. Hypnosis is another option for non-surgical breast enlargement. But this type of non-conventional alternative is still undergoing research.

Natural breast enlargement is a safer than surgery that is why many women prefer to massage for it. If the natural breast enlargement regimes work for you or not cannot be known immediately, instead you might have to undergo such treatments for months before getting any significant results. Therefore, most women give up natural breast enlargement treatments before they start having any effect on their breast size.

Today there are plenty of natural breast enlargement products to choose from. A proper diet regime is must to enhance the size of your breasts naturally, you should stop taking caffeine and take up proteins in your daily diet. It is also advisable to make use of oral medications with other natural treatments, like breast enlargement exercises and breast enlargement creams. Breast enlargement creams are available, contact: 0343 2312061

Breast firming Home remedy

My breasts are large and are not firm they look odd as compared to whole body. please tell a home made remedy.

One reason for sagging breasts is age. As we advance in age, our skin loses its elasticity and the ability to hold up things. Breasts sag during pregnancy, menopause and weight loss especially after crash dieting when you lose weight drastically.

If you are a young woman with sagging breasts, you may not be wearing the right bra or getting enough support from your bra. Wear a proper fitting bra to prevent further sagging. Try some breast firming exercises and massages. Visit our Massage Service page.

Color, shapes and size of breast.

Breasts (boobs) do not have a specified size or shape and there is no shape that can be considered perfect or best. It depends upon your body structure and diet. The size, shape, and structure of your breasts depend on your growth rate and growth mechanism.

Breast color can be light or dark; dependent on your mechanism and skin tone. Breasts are primarily made of mammary glands, which are the milk producing glands and fatty tissues. Areola, the dark area that surrounds your nipples on your breast, grows with the growth of your breasts and develops a darker tone of color.

The color of your nipples and the Areolae can vary in color ranging from purple to pink and this color depends on the color of your skin. With the development of your body, small bumps develop under your nipples, known as the breast bud, and with the growth of the breast buds, your breasts also grow round and large. The growth of breasts starts when you reach puberty. Puberty is the time in your life at which your body witnesses changes as there is a transition happening from your childhood to being an adult. Your breasts start to develop during this period due to the change in hormonal levels in your body. Nutrition, along with heredity, helps determine when your breasts will start to develop and when this period of puberty begins. Breast development, in most girls, begins when they are the age of ten or eleven. This age can differ depending on the growth mechanism of your body.

Breasts take a period of about five years to attain full size and shape. Development of breasts might start earlier or later but that in no way affects the full size and shape of your breasts. The foremost factor that helps determine the way your breasts would be or develop is heredity. Diet or exercises cannot help the breast size to change. The size of your breasts might undergo a change after your pregnancy or after you experience weight gain or loss. A well-balanced diet affects the growth of all organs in your body and breasts, like other organs, also get affected. If your diet contains the best nutrients that are desired for growth of breasts you might get the shape that you desire for your breasts. You should include plant fat in your diet and avoid the consumption of animal fat. You should also ensure that you always use a bra that fits well to ensure proper support and prevent sagging.

Herbs for breast enlargement.

> Saw palmetto is one of the most effective herbs for breast enlargement. It is believed that this natural herb is a hormonal regulator and helps in increasing breast size, stimulating sexual desire, treating urinary tract infections and regulating weight.


> Dong Quai is another excellent herb which is principally used for treating myriad of female health conditions related to hormonal imbalances and reduced production of estrogen.

> Blessed Thistle is also believed to be used as an effective remedy for increasing breast size. This herb is a traditional restorative herb that mainly supports the functioning of female reproductive organs.

> Wild Yam is also a useful herb for various female health conditions including breast enlargement. This natural herb contains diosgenin which is a producer of progesterone and a popular treatment for PMS.

> Fenugreek is a traditional cure for increasing milk supply from breast. This is also used effectively in treating diabetes, congestion, high blood pressure, flatulence and breast enhancement.

>Pueraria Mirifica, also known as Kwao Krua, is believed to boost breast size almost up to 80%. It also shows miraculous results on skin and hair.

Please note this article has been copied from another site, World Mag Online does not give the garuntee about the remedies mentioned above.