Monthly Review: April 2024
Amidst all the heat waves, this month began on a good note as I focused more on health and barely stepped outside unless necessary. I went home to celebrate Ugadi this month, visiting my hometown after almost five months. This is my first time taking this long gap from visiting my hometown as I wanted to try how long I could stay without going there. And also, I was so consistent with Cult that I didn’t want to lose the streak. I managed to attend at least one class in a week for the last 17 weeks!! Surprising for me as well.
It was fantastic to celebrate the festival with my family. We went to the temple, met friends and neighbors on the festive day, and had a lot of fun — the four of us. The temperatures at our place are unbearable, and it was challenging to be outside until the sun set as the air outside was hot. I stayed in the home until late evenings and only stepped out if necessary, even when the sun was away.
Regarding my health, I’m doing well compared to last month, both physically and mentally. I was prepared for the events that I was going to attend. I was taking precautionary measures not to fall ill, be it not eating junk food drinking hot beverages, or roaming around in the afternoon among other things. I’m continuing my therapy sessions and seeing improvements in dealing with stress, too. Regularly, I’m meditating and doing a few affirmations to feel better. Accepting that it’s okay to have bad days brought me peace and instilled hope to look forward to the good days.
And as the IPL season was going on, we had friends coming to our home, and we all watched several IPL matches together. It is fun watching cricket matches, running our commentary, trolling each other, becoming cricket experts for the rest of the evening, and appreciating the players for the next few days for the performance they give. My flatmate is a fan of KKR, and we watch most of the matches together.
Also, I’ve attended a concert called Micless with Merakee by a Hyderabad-based band. I was unaware of the band or the concept of this event before attending the show. I booked the tickets after seeing the event on Instagram and was unaware that we, the audience, must collectively sing together for the songs curated by the band.
Coincidentally, this was the biggest concert for the band, and it saw ~1500 people! The entire event was excellent. People were dancing to the songs in groups or on their own, while the host, Vidya Sivalenka wholly owned the stage. She has a brilliant sense of humor,, which worked for the most part. Her use of an English accent was sarcastical, and she gave context to the audience — everything was amazing. I’ve heard about her in the past but witnessed her host for the first time!
And coming to the band now, I have never heard about the band earlier. I just went with the flow — saw an instant story, informed friends, opened BMS, and booked a ticket. A week before the concert, a song called O Seliya was released on YouTube — a private album song sung by Ganesh. I’ve heard the music, and it felt beautiful. While I was at the concert, I learned that the same Ganesh is the organizer of this band! He sang that song for us while asking the audience to sing a few lines.
For more than half of the month, I was traveling or was in my hometown as I had to attend multiple weddings this month and met many people. I had to travel to different places to attend these weddings. So, yeah — traveling and meeting people are two things I love! But the only challenge was to travel in hot temperatures.
It was good to meet my extended family, have fun with cousins from both my mother and father’s, dance with them, make fun of each other, and have candid moments. I like talking to kids and being with them. This time, I spoke to them, played with them, and had fun with them. They are pure and innocent souls only finding ways to play something. I was trolled by my brother’s daughter Prerana. She had a lot of fun trolling me, and I enjoyed it, too! I was sitting alone at one point and my other brother’s son, Sudhanva, came to me asking me if we could play our regular game of counting numbers that I used to play during my childhood. Everything is fine, but a few instances occurred in our family, and we are dealing with them right now. I’m mentioning it in this blog only to have that belief that everything will be alright soon.
I recalled watching an interview with Ram Gopal Varma where he said “I’m always excited about the future but don’t care about the past,” and this thought struck my mind — “Try to be happy before you sleep and excited when you wake up.”
I’m interested in Movies — I’ve watched three films in the theaters this month — DJ Tillu, Aavesham, and Jersey (Re-release).
Before proceeding with the list, I wanted to add a note. Last month, I watched Premalu (Malayalam) in Bengaluru with friends but forgot to add it to my blog post. My friend Ashwin pointed out this as a part of Bug Bounty program (not a real one 😛). But yeah, I liked Premalu. A few jokes worked well for me, and I rewatched a few scenes, especially the Sangeeth Dance sequence, where the expressions are cute and funny. With all the discussions happening on the OTT vs Cinema and the kind of films people think will work better in the theaters, this movie reassured me that it’s about the content. If people connect well to the film, then the genre doesn’t matter. But again, the promotions and the release time also matter a lot. If you ask me if Premalu is the best Rom-com I’ve watched, I’d say no. We had very good number of films in that genre in Telugu. But they have collected less than Premalu, which made wonders at the box office in Malayalam and Telugu. I’m not undermining Premalu, but sharing my thoughts here.
Tillu Square:
Although I didn’t want to watch it in theaters, I went with my family to watch this film. I like DJ Tillu’s character (from the first part) and the body language he easily pulls off. I enjoyed the first half of the first-part, and again, the same happened here. I enjoyed the first half of this film as well. I couldn’t be there once there’s a story to the film. From the interval, I was utterly disconnected from the movie except for a few laughs here and there. Except for his character and dialogue, nothing kept me engaged in the movie and I was trying hard to step out of the film in the second half.
Aavesham:
I went to watch this film only because it’s made by the director of Romancham and has Fahadh Fassil in it. This film is crazy and a laugh riot for me. I had no expectations of what the film was about but was hooked to the screen until the climax. One such film where everything is correct — writing, performances, cinematography, music, editing, production design, sound design, costumes, and other crafts. I was reminded of Tarun Bhascker’s writing towards the end when Rangan’s character talks about his vulnerabilities of feeling alone all the time (a parallel I found with Keeda Cola).
Jersey:
The first time I watched this film back in 2019, I had this notion that we shouldn’t let our emotions out while watching a movie in public. Now that I don’t have that guard, I cry while watching films in public. Portraying the protagonist as a failure and making him sail against the tide when he knows he’s going to die if he tries is an honest attempt, in my opinion. There’s one dialogue that moved me: Nani says, “Everyone sees me as a failure except for my son. I’ll play for him,” and he goes to play knowing that it’s dangerous for him due to his heart condition.
I wept throughout the film and choked up a little in the second half. I was cheering, clapping, and crying with tears rolling down my cheeks, and made the screen blurry. I was on a different high after the film and was deeply moved by it, although this is my re-watch. I was walking along the aisle towards the exit when one sight made me even more emotional — people were wiping their tears after the movie, and when the end titles appeared, the crowd gave a standing ovation. Amidst all the re-releases happening these days, I wanted to watch only a few films, and Jersey is the first one. One takeaway from the movie is to keep trying no matter what. Just put your efforts into the things you love, for the people you love, and for yourself.
Now, coming to books, I could complete only one book this month — Shikhandi.
The book only briefly touches upon multiple stories and opened a door for me to read more about the stories mentioned here in-depth. A smooth read about how our mythology had queer stories (and other mythologies, too) that were not looked down upon and were celebrated. Got to know that the Tamil interpretation of Ramayana/Mahabharata had a lot more stories native to their cultures and how they intertwined it with the original version of both epics. I also wondered how revenge is woven into Mahabharata that everyone had their own share of revenge that moves the story forward Makes me re-visit Mahabharata, but a rather descriptive one with a lot of detail.
After reading this book, I was looking for the next book to read but was unsuccessful. I read a few pages of more than five books but couldn’t progress forward. It happened to me last year as well,, and I feel that’s fine. As long as I have this habit of reading a few pages every day and finding the right book to read at a given time, I’m doing well. I sat in front of the book shelf and was browsing the books by reading a few pages and keeping them back after that.
Last month I watched Delhi-6 and was mesmerized by its music by AR Rahman. I was listening to a few songs from the film to the likes of Arziyan, Masakali, and Dilli-6 but after the movie, I added Genda Phool to my playlist. This is a new and unique rendition I’ve heard in recent times. I’m in love with the song now.
This version of Kalank Title song after I saw a video of Shilpa Rao singing a line or two of this song on Twitter:
This is my introduction to Silpa Rao, although I’ve listened to her songs before without noticing her name.
And this song too — Family Star released this month, and there is a wedding-themed song in that film. (I’ve not seen the film yet and can’t remember the song either.) On social media, I saw someone changed the audio and used this song from Okkadu for that video instead. It was looking better and hence, I started listening to this. Hariharan + Shreya Goshal combination is bliss to hear!
Reflecting on this month, it was great meeting the people I love being with, and had good times! Looking forward to May. Stay hydrated and take care.
Until next time…
