Shantaram : In search of the ultimate complexity.

Author: Gregory David Roberts

Rating: 7/10

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins an epic, mesmerizing debut novel by Gregory David Roberts, an Australian bank robber and a heroin addict, who flees from Pentridge prison in Australia and spends a tumultuous portion of his life in Bombay, a teeming mass of chaotic potpourri of cultures, philosophy and emotions, before being captured in Germany. In Bombay, Roberts meets Prabaker, the man with the radiant smile and whose family rechristens him as Shantaram. He meets Abdel Khader Khan, mafia-don, philosopher, jihad leader : all rolled into one. He meets Karla, Swiss-born, beautiful and with enough secrets to send a shiver up Roberts’ spine. Murders, betrayals(note the plural), Bollywood, Bombay mafia and the mujahedeen guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan are few of the situations Roberts finds himself entwined in, voluntarily or otherwise.

 
Set at approximately 930-pages, this novel is a tad too long, albeit with some extraordinary characters fleshed out. Give it a whirl and you will not be disappointed.

Intouchables : Haunting, Beautiful.

Cast : Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy.

Rating: 8.7/10

Inspired by a true story of Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo and his caregiver Abdel Sellou, Intouchables is an emotional, poignant ode to the goodness that each person has in his heart, irrespective of his past.

Driss (Omar Sy), is unemployed and intends to remain that way when he gatecrashes an interview for potential candidates to take care of quadriplegic millionaire Phillippe(Francois Cluzet). Driss, who is there to get rejected and thus receive his welfare benefits, gets hired and is challenged by Phillippe to survive a month of caring for him. A job, that starts as a total disaster, gradually becomes easier for Driss as he teaches and is in turn taught by Phillippe, to enjoy the finer nuances of life. Overcoming his fear of paragliding(which made him a quadriplegic in the first place), relationships(with his daughter Elisa and ‘friend’ Eleanore) are few of the situations where Driss helps Phillippe glide through. In return, an appreciation for modern art, opera, music(Vivaldi, Chopin et al) is developed in Driss via his contact with the aristocratic crowd. Ludovico Einaudi’s music is hauntingly beautiful (listen to ‘Una Mattina’) and the direction by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano is breathtaking. The world is now divided into two groups of people: those who have seen this movie and those who haven’t. Miss it at your own peril.

Trainspotting : It’s not shite.

Rating: 8.6/10

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Kevin McKidd, Jonny Lee Miller.

Why choose life when you have heroin? This is the pertinent question that Danny Boyle’s classic ‘Trainspotting’ aims to fathom. Renton and his friends-a Sean Connery wannabe ‘Sickboy’, athlete Tommy, naïve Spud and psycho Begbie belong to the Edinburgh drug scene, the lowest of the low . Ewan McGregor’s portrayal of Renton as a recovering heroin addict will amaze you, disgust you and stupefy you, all at the same time. During his several attempts at recovering(“There are last shots and then there are last shots.” Classic.), he is haunted by the visions of his addiction-free friend Tommy, the cries of a wailing mother for her dead child, his junkie friend who is in prison and psycho Begbie. Danny Boyle’s direction and John Hodge’s screenplay is extremely Guy Ritchie-esque-Stark, sharp satire with a liberal use of bawdy and crude humour. Buckle up your seatbelts and prepare to navigate the highs-and-lows of this film. No pun intended.

Quotes:

i)      Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

ii)   We called him Mother Superior on account of the length of his habit.

iii) We would have injected vitamin C if only they had made it illegal!

iv)   For a vegetarian, Rents, you are a fucking evil shot.

v)      Tommy: Doesn't it make you proud to be Scottish?

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: It's SHITE being Scottish! We're the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are COLONIZED by wankers. Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized BY. We're ruled by effete assholes. It's a SHITE state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and ALL the fresh air in the world won't make any fucking difference!

Nominated for 1 Oscar(Best Writing/Screenplay-John Hodge)