Monthly Review: January 2024
We welcomed the new year, and now we are done with the first month. I had a lot of fun this month and started with new habits while watching the movies and reading the books as usual.
Movies
Merry Christmas
I’ve not watched any of the Sankranthi Telugu releases. The first theatrical movie for me this year is Sriram Raghavan’s Merry Christmas.
I was expecting a dark thriller like AndhaDhun and Johnny Gaddaar, but this love story came out of the syllabus. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Writing a blog post on my thoughts on the film will be out soon.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge
Though this is a popular film among multiple generations, I couldn’t watch it. I was in Mumbai last month and thought about watching this in one theater where this film is still running, but somehow couldn’t do it. Cut to this month: my flatmate Tapasi told me this film is showing at PVR Cinemas, Hyderabad. We went there and had a great time watching this film.
This film is older than me, but it still feels fresh. The jokes are funny, the story is novel (at that time, at least before our filmmakers used that template to death), and the actors are amazing, with equally brilliant music and breathtaking visuals of Europe and India.
Both SRK and Kajol were lovely in the film. Amrish Puri and Anupam Kher, among others, are the main pillars of the film, given that the movie mostly relies on their performances complemented by a strong script. While watching the film, I couldn’t help but recollect dozens of films that were inspired by this film. We were discussing which Telugu movie has a plot point or a character or a song that is lifted from DDLJ (Ninne Pelladatha, Ready among others).
Would love to watch this film over again after a few days.
Captain Miller
The last theatrical movie of this month for me was Captain Miller. I went with my friends, Nakul and Revanth, and we three loved the film. We watched the Telugu version of it, and the dubbing is also good. After the film, we discussed the scenes, the characters, and the music and appreciated the skillful writing of Tamil Filmmakers these days.
After coming back from the film, I wrote down my thoughts in a notebook just so that I wouldn’t lose the thoughts that I wanted to share on my blog post. Yeah, writing a blog post that should have been published by now if not for my procrastination.
Movies on OTT
I watched a few movies, both new and old, on OTT this month. I’ll just mention the names of the old movies that I re-watched but add a few thoughts about the new ones I watched for the first time.
Parking
Tapasi watched this film on TV in intervals over 2–3 days, and he loved it. A few other friends, including Yitzhak, told me this is a good film. I watched it on a weekend afternoon while having lunch.
From the title and glimpses that I caught while others were watching the film, I knew the basic plot — an ego clash about a parking space. Although I knew this, I was immersed in the film and tense throughout. I bit my nails and sweat whenever MS Bhaskar stared at Harish Kalyan in the movie.
From my childhood, I’ve encountered many people with egos, be they in extended family, school teachers, or friends, and I have seen them go over and beyond when they are on an ego trip. I was engaged with the movie only for this reason — the filmmaker reflected how far people go to satisfy their egos by crossing the moral line and ignoring the caution of our loved ones. We all have done that at least once in our lives. It sounds foolish and immature if we retrospect, but in the heat of the moment, it just would have felt right.
I’ve been watching MS Bhaskar from Uttama Villain to 8 Thottakkal (especially that single-shot sequence) in this film. He amazes me every time with his performances that don’t feel like an actor performing but rather a character living his life. Respect to him.
Good Time
I watched Uncut Gems last year and shared my thoughts with my friend, Vishnu. He recommended that I watch this film, directed by the same filmmakers who made Uncut Gems. I added it to the watch list but couldn’t watch it until this month. I don’t have any complaints, but this is an engaging film. Perhaps the mood I was watching or the expectation of this film influenced my take on the movie, but I didn’t find it to be great.
Extra Ordinary Man
My friend watched this movie during its theatrical run and liked it. I started watching it without much more expectations than being a regular entertainer on Hotstar, and I enjoyed watching the movie.
The concept is really good, and in my opinion, the film would have been great if it had been focused on its core plot by eliminating unwanted humor and other characters.
Other movies on OTT
I re-watched the following films while having food, be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I think I didn’t watch any of them for more than 1 hour each, ending the films when I was finished with my food.
Varudu, Oosaravelli, Race Gurram, Piku (Irrfan ❤), and Avvai Shanmughai (Kamal ❤)
Web Series
Save the Tigers
My friends and cousins have watched this series and suggested that I watch it. Though I wasn’t waiting to see it, I finally watched it in a day. Started at night during dinner, and as the number of episodes was less (6) with a duration of ~30 minutes each, I was able to complete the series in two stretches.
The series was fun and smooth, with no scenes making me feel why I was watching it. The comedy is good, not too much fun, and not regressive (oh no!). It was cute — stories of three couples and their families with funny situations. It was smooth for me. All the actors did a decent job with the show creator, keeping it simple and fun at the same time.
Books
Steve Jobs
This book is written by Walter Isaacson, a prominent author and journalist who also has Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, and Elon Musk, among other biographies, to his credit.
I started reading this book in November 2023 and completed it this month. Aside from knowing him as the Founder of Apple, I knew nothing of him before reading the book. This book covers everything, from his birth, childhood, and founding two companies to his health issues and death. I’m writing down my thoughts on another blog post that will be out soon.
After completing the Steve Jobs biography, I tried reading a few books, but all were unsuccessful. I picked up a Telugu novel by Malladi called “Chivari Korika” but couldn’t even read the first page properly. I was stuck with that book for 3 days, only on the first page, and decided to pass on it. Next, I picked up another English book but couldn’t read past the Introduction.
What is Meditation
I was browsing through the books in our house and found “What is Meditation” by J Krishnamurti. I took this book for another reason: this month, I started meditating for 10 minutes every day. I thought reading this book would help me understand meditation even more.
I started this book expecting to finish it soon, but nah! I started off well, but after a point, it took me more time to read, understand, and discuss the book’s content. There were days when I just read two pages in the book but couldn’t understand the entire thing. Having read such books in the past, this isn’t surprising as for books like these, I read them first time with loose ends (I don’t understand everything written in the book), and after reading other books, I come back to it for a re-read only to take it slow and understand the things I missed in the first read.
I want to read and finish a Telugu book quickly, but it’s not happening. Even now, I keep thinking about a particular incident in Steve Jobs’s life, for example, the day he decided to sell Pixar to Disney, the day he rejoined Apple, or the day he discovered his death was nearing him.
Habit Tracking
Okay, this is a new section that wasn’t present earlier. I started tracking my habits, at least those I wanted to learn and work towards, back in 2023. Though I’ve been doing it for more than five months, I haven’t added it as a section on blogs so far. This month, I thought it was time that Habits deserved a place on my blog posts. These are the habits that I’m tracking at the moment (on a daily basis):
Writing a page
Reading 10 pages
Workout/Yoga (I’ve been going to Cult sessions)
Meditation for 10 minutes.
Here are the numbers for January:
I’m tracking these habits with my colleagues and friends. I started with writing, and now I have four habits, the fourth one being meditation for 10 minutes every day. Tapasi meditates every day, and this habit has rubbed off on me. He started inviting me to meditate with him, and I started meditating for 10 minutes every day. It has been calming, and after meditation, I can take one task at a time without stress.
Now the regular blog stats for this month:
Movies I watched: 6
Books I read: 2
Series I watched: 1
Average Number of steps this month: 5286 steps per day
Travel: NO 😀 (I’ve not traveled anywhere this month, living up to the resolutions that I made this year — to focus on health and, after achieving health goals, reward yourself with a trip).
Other Stuff
TCS Ruhaniyaat
I attended a music festival called Ruhaniyaat, organized by Banyan Tree Events and sponsored by TCS, thanks to my friend Ashwini. She shared the invite with me, and I attended the event with her and another friend, Harish. Initially, I was excited for the event to see Sivasri Skandaprasad, a Classical Singer, perform at the event. The whole event was amazing, with artists from Indonesia and South Africa performing live with their stories with each song. There were performances from Maharashtra, and we also witnessed Kabir Panthi’s songs and Qawwali’s songs. The event was wonderful, with devotional songs about nature, love, women’s empowerment, and spirituality. I look forward to this every year.
Friend and Family 🙂
Also, we welcomed 2024 at our house with friends. Apart from us (Susruth, Tapasi, and me), we had Amulya, Apurva, Charan, KMG, Suresh, and Uday at our home to celebrate the occasion. KMG Garu helped us reflect upon 2023 on certain things, like — what we remember from each month of 2023, things we are grateful for, and what we plan for ourselves in 2024, etc.; it was quite helpful. Every one of us reflected upon our lives in 2023, and it was liberating and made me optimistic about 2024.
Also, I’ve been watching video songs of these two actors: Chiranjeevi and Kamal Haasan. I re-watched Anbe Sivam the previous month and have been watching Poovasam Song since then. Not a day passed by without me either listening to it or watching the song on YouTube. Such a lovely composition with equally adorable visuals.
Coming to Chiru’s video songs, I’ve been binge-watching his 90s songs on a loop. Songs from Annayya, Hitler, and Chudalani Undi, among others. A big fan of his grace. Speaking of Chiranjeevi, I was happy when I got to know he was conferred with Padma Vibhushan. I was a kid when he got Padma Bhushan and knew nothing about it, although we celebrated it at home as my father is a big fan of this man.
During Pongal, we had a family get-together. On the day of Pongal, after all the rituals, I sat with my father, and together we watched a few of Chiranjeevi’s video songs again. This month has been mostly about him for me!! ❤
From Twitter, I got to know about this song of Vijayakanth and Bhanu Priya, choreographed by Prabhu Deva. I found this on Twitter and was amazed by the dance and cuts. The costumes are also good.
Yeah, with this, I end my January blog post. Looking forward to February 😀
The first month of the New Year is always special. We take resolutions on our health, career, and life with utmost motivation. I took a few resolutions, too, and hopefully, I will stay true to those 🙂
