300 - A story of Sacrifice and Bravery....

Greek warriors were always known for their bravery and valour.The story 300,dated 480BC, which I just got to see a few days back, talks about the self-less sacrifices of the Spartans, who died for the sake of achieving personal freedom and putting an end to slavery.

King Leonidas(Gerard Butler)the wise king of the Spartas possesses the qualities of honour and glory, gets the message of the Persian King Xerses(Rodrigo Santoro)wanting to claim the sovereignty over the Spartans. With an aim to put an end to this The King commands his people to fight for their rights, but the elders of the Spartas prohibit this. Concerned about his people,especially the women, Spartan King Leonidas enlists 300 brave soldiers to fight against the Persians who have an army having a million soldiers.They arrive at the Hot Gates also referred as Thermopylae and begin to fight the Persians and claim the lives of lot of Persian soldiers.The "God King" of Persia tries to persuade King Leonidas to surrender. Back in Sparta the Queen tries to persuade the elders to help her King and his forces.Theron an influential Sparta agrees to help her if she sexually surrenders to him.For the sake of her land she does, but Theron betrays her at the Council and charges her of adultery. Enraged by his act, Queen Gorgo stabs him with a sword and walks out. The Counsellors see Persian coins with the dead and label Theron as a traitor. Back at Thermopylae, King Leonidas sends his soldier, Dilios back to Sparta,who narrates the whole story.
The Spartans are surrounded by the Persians and The God King asks him to surrender. The brave king and his soldiers prefer to die a death of Valour and Bravery rather than surrendering. King Leonidas, who promises to shed the blood of the God King, at the end does so with his spear,and falls dead. All the soldiers are killed by a hail of arrows.The whole story revolves on the Glory of the Great King Leonidas and his soldiers who sacrificed their lives.

The whole story is a narrative one in the movie and is beautifully fictionalized by Director Zack Synder.We get into a world of historical fantasy and come across a lot of mysterious monsters, majestic elephants and all.

With a great story, excellent direction and wonderful sound tracks and actors, the movie is the Number One movie today, and thanks to my good friend who saw that I saw the movie.

For those, who have missed it, don't!

Meera signs off for today................

It is already Fall...........

Admiring nature, looking forward to the various season changes and enjoying them is been a passion for most of us in the world. It is Fall now here, and Mother Nature exhibits herself in a wide range of colurs. A time for the trees to shed their leaves and in that process, we get to see spectacular colours like pink, purple and so on. People say Pennsylvania is one place where you enjoy Fall the most. Though I have not been able to visit Pennsylvania, here in California too, it looks amazing...

I am no Frost or Wordsworth, but just as I sit by my patio, and look at the Nature, out, I feel tempted to write .... Hope you enjoy it.

It is already Fall

It is already Fall,
One of the most beautiful seasons of all.
Mother Nature comes out in her best,
In vibrant colours full of zest.

It is time for the trees
To shed their leaves
And before they do so
They are full of
Fun and Frolic.

As the gentle wind whistles by,
The leaves from the trees
fall down and lie,
Flowers gently carpet the road,
In colours red,brown and gold.

The silent day descends,
and the bright Moon ascends,
Darkness skillfully wraps the sky
With shining stars and winds blowing high.

The beginning of the season Fall,
Marks the end of all blues,
For, Mother Nature comes out in her best,
In vibrant colours full of zest.

It is neither too cold nor too warm,
Fall is silent and calm,
Until the wind guhses by,
with the sweet scent of flowers
passing by...

It is already Fall
The most beautiful seasons of all.

Meera signing off... stay tuned

NO SMOKING - MOVIE REVIEW

"CIGARETTE SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH" is the main highlight of the movie.A nice attempt by Anurag Kashyap to render a message to the world about smoking.No Smoking is directed by Anurag Kashyap, under the big banners of Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Rangat, was released on 26th of October.The music is composed is Vishal Bharadwaj, and lyrics by Gulzaar.

MAIN CAST: John Abraham as 'K', Ayesha Takia as Anjali, K's wife and as Honey K's secretary, Parwesh Rawal as Baba Bengali.

SYNOPSIS:The story revolves around K who is a chain smoker and doesn't want to stop smoking at any cost and who is really stubborn guy, stubborn as a mammoth! and wouldn't give a listening ear to anyone. His wife Anjali walks out on him, and it is only then K thinks about quitting to smoke and joins a rehabilitation centre.

The rehab is run by Guruji Baba Bengali and K is forced to sign a "freeze contract" meaning K cannot come out of it. The rehab enforces different kinds of punishments to K for trying to smoke,like,chopping of fingers, making his asthmatic brother inhale smoke or trying to harm his wife. Entangled in a smoky situation does K give up smoking or does he give up his near and dear ones for smoking? That's the story.

Anurag has tried to bring about the whole thing by walking us through a life of dreams and unreal things. The first half of the movie was going OK, but the second half was really very confusing.....To appreciate the movie one has to understand it, but this one was very chaotic. Seriously at one point I did not get to know what was happening!

As for music goes Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzaarji's combo took off well. The music album of No Smoking starts with 'Jab bhi Cigarette' which has a blend of Jazz added to it, with all the perfect instruments required to bring a Jazzy mood. The female version of Jab Bhi cigaratte by Sunidhi Chauhan is a trance.'Phoonk De' by Rekha Bharadwaj is a catchy number and you start humming the tune, once you hear it.'Kash Laga' is another number by Sukhwinder Singh, Daler Mehndi and Vishal. When compared to albums released recently,I think this one is very weak.'Ash tray' by Deva Sengupta who is making his first entry here, creates a blue mood in the listeners. This ending song of the album brings about a haunting feeling, the days and nights of life, which goes well with film's title- No Smoking.....

On the whole, No Smoking, is a different movie with a different story, does not have very enchanting music... It could be rated a 2 for 5....

Meera signing off.......Enjoy the trailer and stay tuned

The Spooky Day.... Halloween almost here!

Halloween is almost here!Halloween is also called as the All Saints Day by the Christians. It was first celebrated on 1st of November and later it came to be celebrated on 31st October.The history of Halloween dates 2000 years back and originated from a European group called Celts.They believed that the dated roamed together on this particular night! It is an "Evening of the Dead."

Halloween is celebrated in high spirits here in the US. I see houses decorated with all kinds of spooky stuff, pumpkins beautifully carved and people enjoying and partying in Halloween costumes! Kids on this day go to every house in the neighbourhood for Tricks and Treats.

I was going out to shop for my kid and all the shops were stocked up with costumes, and beautifully adorned with skeletons,and scary stuff! Wowie! Some were really scary! Halloween fever is up here!

I still have no clue as to why people celebrate the "Dead" here. There has to be some strong point to prove this, which I am unable to understand.... If any of you think, you could tell me something about the whole thing, that would be really nice... Thanks!

Meera WISHES Everyone a Happy Halloween much in advance!..... Stay tuned!