लाला के लिए

I just finished revisiting Jani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani and have revised my estimate of this film. I must admit that I was taken aback and was compelled to write to you. I beseech you, implore you, simply beg you to rewatch this film at the earliest. Be cautious though, for you may laugh so hard that Michael will need to call 911. There is more per frame WTFuckery in this film than I ever recall. Per. Fuckin'. Frame. And the megastarcast and their massive indifference to fate of this woebegone adventure is an experience to remember.

Please Lala, you have to do this.

 

Yours,

The Brooklyn Classic

NF recommends this brilliant piece highly, while somewhere (lurking in the dark corners of cyberspace) the eminently wry William Gibson chuckles; and Tyler Cowen approves. Read the full piece at Eater.com: Meet the Hottest Restaurant of 2081.

Here's some sampling to whet your appetite:

Nova's exquisitely perfect reproductions of extinct fish are years beyond any other plant-based replication of seafood in the last decade—revealed him as a trailblazer in the medium of engineered protein.

Savor this:

... rumors are that with his second revivalist restaurant, Nova is pushing beyond optimized protein to a new horizon, one that has been uncharted for years: real meat.

Here are snippets from the interview with the Master Chef: 

What I wanted to get back to again was this period of a certain kind of casual luxury, an era where everyone could afford to be inefficient, when eating meat was normal and natural, and we're taking the re-creation of that culture very seriously... 

You'll even get the bill written down on paper—we found a lot of these GREAT vintage Moleskine pads, very period—and you'll pay a separate small fee, like twenty percent, to the servers if they do a good job.

Very Gibsonian indeed! Do read the whole thing.

(अ)सीमाबद्ध

Satyajit Ray and Ravi Shankar on the sets of Pather Panchali

Hats off to The Wire, where in a wonderfully penned article, Sharmila Tagore remembers her mentor Satyajit Ray's overwhelming genius on the 60th anniversary of Pather Panchali: What Satyajit Ray Left Us Is An Inheritance of Endless Possibilities. It's a rich, highly-erudite-yet-warm piece, peppered with intelligent observations and personal recollections. What a pleasant surprise to discover that one of the finest Indian actresses could also be such an astute, engaging writer! 

Satyajit Ray, of course, remains one of NF's all time favorite personal heroes (this list also includes Nirmal Verma and Girish Karnad) and he obstinately holds on to his old opinion that if all of Indian cinema were to be lost with just one exception - The Apu Trilogy - we wouldn't have lost much. 

Do read, if only to see how charmingly Sharmila Tagore writes. Highly recommended!

कुर्सियां!

NF has just gotten off binge watching four season 1 episodes of the web original, overnight IMDB phenom, mini series: TVF Pitchers, and boy, is it stunning! 

The show is about the much vaunted startup scene in India, in particular around Powai, Mumbai (wouldn't Bangalore have been a better choice? Oh well...) and not only does it look real and is very funny (the first episode: Tu Beer Hai (tr. You Are Beer) being a great example); it can also flaunt dramatic complexity and nuance when it wants to. Here's a longer, more in-depth review at Huff Po India: The Viral Fever's New Web Series Is About India's Frenzied Start-Up Scene.

It's also stylish, slick, and looks really fuckin' cool. 

The main actor is that same writer boy from Sulemani Keeda, which, come to think of it, occupies a very similar space in recent Hindie ventures. Its casting (including a very edgy, intense cameo by the ever awesome Rajesh Sharma), acting, writing, production values etc. are far beyond what you'd expect from a web original - in fact, it looks and feels better than anything on Indian TV. 

And of course, any self respecting series about engineering graduates must have a Sourav Mondal character  - and what a great campy, fun Saurabh Mandal (from IIM Indore lest you forget) we get to see! 

@ Ra and SatyaVrat: You guys've got to comment on what's your take on this!

It starts here on Youtube. Do, do watch!

गुड गौली मिस बौली

नंफ़ : जैसे हिंदी फिल्मों में अक्सर हीरो, हीरोइन से प्यार करने का नाटक करते करते उसे सचमुच चाहने लगते हैं, मैं बॉलीवुड के बारे में बिलकुल वैसा महसूस करता हूँ.

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