Movie: Kapoor and Sons

Tags

Alia Bhatt, Bollywood, fawad khan, Kapoor and sons, Shakun Batra, Sidharth Kapoor

A story revolving around a dysfunctional family of 2 brothers who visit their family and discover that their parents marriage is on the verge of collapse,the family is undergoing a financial crunch and much more as the drama unfolds.

-IMDb

Cast: Fawad Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Ratna Pathak, Rishi Kapoor, Rajat Kapoor

Director: Shakun Batra

Language: Hinglish (Hindi + English)

Year: 2016

After reading & hearing some real good reviews about Kapoor & Sons I booked my tickets for this movie. I tried a new theater this time, Maxus Cinemas. The theater is good, though the seating capacity is lesser than the other multiplexes. The seats could have been better & the first few rows are almost in the screen. I wonder how those poor people watched the movie from there.

*Spoilers*

What I liked:

• Fawad Khan: He was the reason I had gone to watch this movie & I was not disappointed. I have firmly come to believe that there is nothing that this man cannot do! Drama, romance, comedy he does it all with flair. What next? Some action maybe 😉 He was magnificent in the movie, so subtle & so effective.
• Sidharth Malhotra: Now, I have disliked this man since SOTY but he seems to have improved a lot since then. He was less of a muscular pillar in the movie & did very well with all his scenes with Fawad.
• Rishi Kapoor was brilliant as the oldest member of the family. I read that his makeup was the costliest thing in this movie, and it shows. Throughout the movie Rishi Kapoor is talking about his death, how he wants to die, where he wants to be buried, when he wants to die. This made me think we surely get a scene where he dies & the family reunites for his funeral. What was heart rending was to see this old man have to attend his son’s funeral 😦 Though sad to see, it was a good touch on the director’s part.

What I did not like:

• The movie attempts to handle too many complex issues at the same time & hence fails to do justice to any of them. Homosexuality, adultery, jealousy, family issues & misunderstandings, insecurity…there are numerous issues with the Kapoors, each one worth an entire movie in itself. And then the director tries to make light of all this by inserting comedy to lighten the situations at many times.
• The first half was really boring.
• I am tired of stereotypes in Indian movies like Alia’s character was. The bubbly, effervescent girl who drinks & smokes with the hero while wearing the shorts shorter than her shirt & hitting bald men because she thinks its funny. Is that ALL being modern means?

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Book: Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer

Tags

books, Jeffrey Archer, The Clifton Chronicles

I had completely missed the publication date of this book & chanced upon this book when I had gone to my local bookstore to buy a new book. I was overjoyed seeing that the next book of the Clifton Chronicles was out & bought it right away & started reading on my way back home. And it was all very underwhelming…

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia.

Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?

Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy, and can see no way out of her financial problems, until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T. Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who’s in England to see his horse run at Royal Ascot.

Sebastian Clifton is now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic, whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Priya, a beautiful Indian girl. But her parents have already chosen the man she is going to marry. Meanwhile, Sebastian’s rivals Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor are still plotting to bring him and his chairman Hakim Bishara down, so they can take over Farthings.

Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.

Cometh the Hour is the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles and, like the five previous novels – which were all New York Times bestsellers – showcases Jeffrey Archer’s extraordinary storytelling with his trademark twists.

*SPOILERS*

What I liked: 

• Return of some old characters: It was great to read about Barry Hammond & Maisie Clifton & even Grace Barrington. Grace has so little space in all the books but it is always nice to read about her. Like her sister she is a magnificent woman.
• Harry Clifton: He was once again impressive in this book. His speech at the Nobel awards ceremony was worth the applause it received. The gesture of raising the pen was touching as well as meaningful. Though I was expected some nasty twist when he went to Russia with Emma & Yelena, thankfully they were allowed to return back home in one piece.
• Virginia Fenwick: It was fun to see Virginia get her just dues. Finally Virginia meets her match in Ellie May & her own father knows his daughter better than anyone.
• Sloane & Mellor backstabbing one another was fun to read. Let them keep busy with one another so the Barringtons – Cliftons can live peacefully.

What I did not like:

• Priya Ghuman: Being an Indian I had been looking forward to read about Priya Ghuman since I read her name on the back page of the book but was sorely disappointed with the treatment given to this character. Why was she even introduced? To show how fickle Seb is? Or to highlight honour killings (though this wasn’t exactly that even!) in India? For the first time I put away a Jeffrey Archer novel & didn’t pick it up for nearly a week after reading about Priya dying at the airport. I was surprised when Mr. Ghuman did nothing to avenge his daughter’s death though I am glad Archer didn’t make him buy Barrington shares as usual & bring the company to its knees.
• Sebastian Clifton: What was he doing in the entire novel? Moping over Jessica & Sam- playing lover boy for Priya – moping over Priya going away – playing lover boy in India- moping over Priya’s death (I refuse to call whatever he was doing mourning no matter what Maisie, Harry & Emma say) – playing lover boy for Sam again & then running behind his daughter & courting Sam & then marrying her finally. Aim of life accomplished! And if the father wasn’t annoying enough we have the over smart daughter who all of a sudden is everywhere. By next book she might take over from Emma as chariman of Barrington’s. She is THAT bright after all.
• The book really did not live up to the standards set by the previous novels in this series. The plots are getting repetitive & hence boring with the end results of trials & characters all being predictable.

The last book in The Clifton Chronicles series releases in November. Hope JA gives this series a suitable & satisfying ending & the book is in the league of the previous five novels & not like the sixth one.