Sharing: VIGGY’S TRIP TO AUSTRALIA

Albatross with tour organiser Andy. Vignesh is second from left

My son VigneshKumar got a chance to go to Australia along with Heavy Metal Band ALBATROSS that he is a part of. They had three gigs at Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong last weekend.

A street in Melbourne

The five-member band flew to Melbourne by Malaysian Airlines on October 23, 2013 with a break in journey at the Kuala Lumpur airport. They reached Melbourne on the 24th and had a relaxing day. Viggy says that he was too excited to sleep off the jet lag in his motel room. He and a couple of others walked around the area they stayed in.

Melbourne Cricket Ground

They visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). While his friends took a tour, Viggy – who is not too fond of cricket – sat in the stadium, drinking a beer. He says the weather was so cold – around 5-6 degrees – and so was the beer.

Can you see the stuffed toys of spiders hanging off that building?

I took a virtual tour through the pictures that Viggy brought back. It kind of makes me want to shift to Melbourne.

A lake in that area

I was amazed to know that Melbourne with roughly double the area of Mumbai, has a population of 4 million while Amchi Mumbai has 25 million. No wonder I feel claustrophobic whenever I step out of my building. I feel people all around me and walking is not the fun it used to be a few years back.

Tram running through the streets of Melbourne

Anyway, enough of Mumbai-bashing and back to Viggy’s trip! Albatross had a show at Melbourne on Friday night. It was extremely well received. Vignesh found that the Aussies were pretty cool and chilled out. From what he could see, they lead a stress-free existence. I am sure, with the roads so empty and green. There was no dust, I believe. I suppose I can imagine.

Outside their motel

When they stepped out at around 9 pm, the road was empty. There was no one. Amazing! Of course, where they were put up was in the suburbs. Vignesh says he did not hear one ‘honk’ throughout the two days at Melbourne. Astounding!

For pedestrians. Cool, isn't it!

I liked the idea of how pedestrians crossed roads there. There is a pole with a button. A pedestrian presses that to ‘red signal’ the vehicles. He only crosses the road when the light changes. Discipline at its best! I am impressed.

Public Toilet

Public toilets are available on the roadside every kilometre. And I am sure they don’t stink. What won’t I give for that kind of an infrastructure in our city! Sigh…!

Yarra River @ Melbourne

The next morning, they left for Sydney by Virgin Atlantic. They reached there and checked into a dormitory that had been booked for them.

Sydney

Viggy says Sydney is more like Mumbai and quite commercial. That same night, Saturday, Albatross performed at Bald Faced Stag Hotel. Here too, the show went off extremely well and the public was encouraging.

Albatross performed here

The next day, around noon, they went to Wollongong for their final show of the tour. The ride was for an hour or so and just superb, says Viggy. It being a Sunday, there was not much of a crowd, but the audience who were present enjoyed their performance.

Sydney Opera House

They returned to Sydney the same night to stay at a Service Apartment as they were not too comfortable with the dormitory.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The next morning, they checked out of the apartment at around 9 am, left their luggage at the reception and went around Sydney.

Albatross with Colin, a hardcore fan

They went to check out Sydney Opera House, Parramatta River and Sydney Harbour Bridge. I believe there was some kind of construction work going on nearby. But it was so well organised that there was no flying dust.

A church in Melbourne

Viggy and gang left Sydney at around 4 pm local time by Malaysian Airlines to return to Mumbai on October 29 by 11.30 am IST. Albatross had had a superb and successful Australian tour. Way to go Guys!

@ Melbourne - so much green. I love it!

Recipe: KARANJI (சோமாசி)

Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Diwali is around the corner and all Indian households must be preparing for the celebration with a variety of sweets and farsan. I bring you the recipe of Karanji, a yummy sweet that I learned to make from my friend Asha. She’s an excellent cook. I just love Karanji and how many ever times I have made it after that it was the best when I made it along with her. Thank you Asha!

Karanji is called சோமாசி (Somaasi) in Tamil. While it looks the same, the taste varies as the filling is different.

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

Grated Coconut – ½ cup
Rava – ½ cup
Powdered Cardamom – 1 tbsp
Powdered Sugar – 2 cups
Almonds – ½ cup
Pistachios – ½ cup
Cashewnuts – ½ cup

For the shell

Maida – 1 cup
Rava – ½ cup
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Salt – 1 pinch

Oil for frying

METHOD

1. Run the almonds, pistachios and cashewnuts in the mixer to make a coarse powder. Alternately, you can chop them into fine pieces.
2. Heat a kadai and roast the rava till golden in colour.
3. Add the coconut to it and turn around for a couple of minutes before switching the gas off.
4. Take the rava-coconut mix and add it to a mixing bowl.
5. Add the sugar powder, cardamom and the dryfruits to it.
6. Mix well and the filling for the Karanji is ready.
7. Take another mixing bowl and add all the four ingredients for the shell.
8. Sift them together before adding some water and making a tight dough.
9. Take the dough in small balls (the size of a lemon) and roll it out in circles.
10. Add a spoon of filling on one half of the rolled out circle.
11. Fold it in the middle and join the edge in a semi-circle.
12. You can fold the edge and shape it with your hand or press a fork and ensure the edge is completely sealed.
13. Get all the karanjis ready before deep frying them till golden brown in colour.

ALTERNATELY….

You can bake your karanjis in an oven at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes or till they turn golden brown in colour.

I promise that you will have the yummiest Diwali!

Author Interview @ THE TALES PENSIEVE

I am thrilled to present one more author interview where I was featured. This time it was on a website called The Tales Pensieve. It is Rubina Ramesh that I have to thank for this one too.

Read on to find out more...

Writing Can Be A Bolt From The Blue, Proves Sundari Venkatraman

Sundari Venkatraman felt the happiness of being a published author when Indireads decided to publish her short novella Double Jeopardy. When I got this book for review I was ready for a quick read without much expectations. This small package made me sit up, bite my nails and hold my breath  and above all the oomph factor was something I would not have guessed in my wildest dream.

Two guys and one girl. Simple story, right? How would you eliminate the second hero? Kill him? Sacrifice his love? Well Sundari chose another path. Quite a bold path for such a sweet love story.

Sundari Venkatraman was born in Kumbakonam, a town in Tamil Nadu. She grew up in Chennai in a joint family consisting of her parents, four sisters, grandparents, her uncle, aunt and their three children. Life was irresponsible and wonderful in those days. She learned the Queen’s language at her Grandpa’s knee along with her sister Sujatha. After her arranged  marriage to Mr. Venkatraman, she moved to Mumbai. She was a housewife till her kids had not entered the middle school. That’s when she officially went to work outside the kitchen. Writing happened to her out of the blue and she was so glad about it. First came the novels, then short stories and later the blogs. She was so thrilled to be able to blog. The number of hits on her page and comments from readers intoxicates her like rare wine.

I got InKonversation with Sundari Venkatraman about Arth, Sanya and Ansh. Meet Sundari Venkatraman:

Hi Sundari. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. I have read your book, Double Jeopardy and must say it has been quite a shock. Nice way to eliminate the competition. Can you tell us something about your book?

Hi Rubina, I should thank you for this interview. While my intention was not to shock, I am glad that my book ‘Double Jeopardy’ made a strong impact on you. If that will eliminate competition, then I must say I am glad.

Double Jeopardy is about Sanya’s journey into womanhood. She travels all the way from London to Mumbai to meet Arth Sharma, her childhood sweetheart. She is repeatedly thrown in the company of Ansh, Arth’s twin brother. Sparks fly as she is physically attracted to him. While Sanya refuses to let go of her childhood dreams, she is forcibly drawn to Ansh. Read the full story to find out who she lands up with.

Click Here to read the complete interview on The Tales Pensieve.

Food Review: RAJDHANI @ PHOENIX MARKET CITY, KURLA

Vinny & Viggy outside Rajdhani @ Phoenix Market City

On the Saturday that we went to see Besharam at PVR Cinemas, Vinny, Viggy and I decided to have lunch at Rajdhani, where they serve Gujarati Thali. Rajdhani is right there at the Food Court at Phoenix Market City in Kurla. They served us a Festival Thali as it was during Navratri.

THUMBS UP 1: The ambience was excellent with well-spaced seating arrangement.

THUMBS UP 2: The service was very good with a number of waiters at one’s beck and call. The best part was that they did not intrude either. They only came up to the table when it was clear we needed something.

THUMBS UP 3: The food was superb. There were 4-5 sabzis. Let me recall them. There was Gatte ki Sabzi; one made with Thuriya (Ribbed Gourd); another with paneer; a dry potato sabzi and Dal Bati Churma. Each one was superb.

The Thalis were oval in shape and looked nice

THUMBS UP 4: They served two types of Dal – one regular and one sweet. Then there was Gujarati Kadhi. Simply yum!

THUMBS UP 5: Two types of rotis were served – one regular and one bajra. They also served bite-sized puran polis with this. Of course, ghee accompanied everything. While the rotis were quite small, everything was unlimited.

I managed to capture some of the items on camera

THUMBS UP 6: White Dhoklas and Stuffed Karanjis were served, unlimited. While the Karanjis were good, the Dhoklas were out of this world. I am not a fan of white dhoklas but these were exceptional.

THUMBS UP 7: They served green chutney, sweet imli chutney and garlic chutney with the farsan. Each one was delicious. There was a kind of pickle-cum-chutney made of green chillies. I just loved it.

THUMBS UP 8: They served plain rice as well as Dal Khichdi. The Khichdi was simply awesome.

THUMBS UP 9: They serve three types of sweets. On that day, it was Jalebi with Rabdi and two others. I don’t know as we all refused them. We just had no place in our tummies.

Yes, the food and service were good

THUMBS UP 10: The chaas they served was the perfect finale to that huge meal.

THUMBS DOWN 1: I felt thoroughly upset on one score. While I had a lot of vegetables, I just managed to have 2 small rotis and 2 tsp of Khichdi. Of course, I had 3 dhoklas (they were not very big) and one karanji. I refused the sweets altogether. Despite this, I felt tremendous discomfort and heaviness in my stomach for the next 5-6 hours. I finally concluded that they must be using cooking soda in the food. This is one major put-off and I don’t think I want to venture into a Thali restaurant ever again.

Book Review: IF GOD WAS A BANKER By Ravi Subramanian

Suddenly, over the past couple of weeks, I am able to sleep only every alternative night. One night I sleep for 7-8 hours and the next for about 3-4 hours. I realised there was a pattern to it and two days back, I was better prepared with IF GOD WAS A BANKER by Ravi Subramanian for company. I read about the author on some website recently during the launch of his latest offering – Bankster. I decided to begin by reading his first book. I am glad that the book was totally readable and I went on reading till about 4 am. I managed to complete it the next evening.

The Story from the author’s website

Two young management graduates, with nothing similar in family backgrounds and temperament, join the New York International Bank on the same day and take two entirely different routes to success. Both rise up the ranks at breakneck speed: the fast and aggressive Sundeep, who would stoop to anything to get ahead, and the mature and sensible Swami, with a high regard for good old ethics. The racy narrative set in the high-pressure milieu of competitive banking carries the undercurrent of a clash of values, in the intermeshed realms of the personal and the professional.

It’s a story peppered with ambition and frustration, deceit and malevolence, love and lust, and the desperate struggle for status and power. And, above all, there is a top-notch banker who plays the benevolent God whenever crisis looms over the young guns…

An insider’s fictionalised account of how Indian professionals experience the world of foreign banks, the story spans three continents.

My take on it….

I must say I was impressed. The book has been well researched and I enjoyed getting an insider’s view of the foreign banking system. The characters are very well etched – especially Sundeep, Swami and Aditya. Of course, the rest of them were also excellently fleshed out. I so enjoyed reading about Swami's honesty. It gives hope in one's life.

Kudos to Ravi Subramanian on writing such a lovely human interest story! It begins with Sundeep in a state of nail-biting stress in his New York apartment in the present. The author takes us on a journey in flashback as Sundeep recalls the last 15 odd years of his life.

The novel keeps you hooked as you want to know the reason for Sundeep’s anxiety. Each chapter makes you wonder whether you will know what’s happening. The plot has been put together so well.

What I liked best is the ending. God is truly all-forgiving, even in his avatar as a banker.

I am really looking forward to reading the other books by Ravi Subramanian. Only my cynical mind keeps worrying that the rest of them should not sound repetitive. Fingers crossed!

My only peeve about the book: It has been published by Rupa & Co. The book has not been proofread thoroughly. At a glance, while reading, I found at least 70-80 errors. I was extremely disappointed. This might not matter to most readers. But for me who does a lot of proofreading work, this was very distracting. I sincerely hope Rupa will polish the book well before they go for the next edition.

Film Review: WAR… CHHOD NA YAAR

Very credible premise, BUT…… 

Cast: Sharman Joshi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Soha Ali Khan, Dalip Tahil, Sanjay Mishra, Manoj Pahwa
Story Idea, Writer, Director: Faraz Haider

Venkat and I went for the film in Cinemax Sion on the day of its release. We were kind of dubious about it when we saw that there were less than 50 people watching the film with us.

THE STORY

The film begins with Captain Raj (Sharman Joshi) of the Indian Army and Captain Qureshi (Jaaved Jaaferi) of the Pakistan Army getting together with a couple of other colleagues to play a game of cards. They sit on the sides of the wire fence at the border and have a ball.

Suddenly, shooting breaks out and the story goes into flashback. At the Defence Minister’s (Dalip Tahil) insistence, GBC TV sends its correspondent Ruth Dutta (Soha Ali Khan) to the border to get information about an impending war between India and Pakistan. But what she finds there is something else altogether.

The Chinese Premier (also Dalip Tahil) has a video conference with the Indian Defence Minister as well as the Pakistan Minister (Dalip Tahil again), promising the sky. Then there is the Defence Minister of the USA (you guessed right that it is Dalip Tahil) wheeling and dealing with the defence heads of both India and Pakistan.

Watch the film for the hilarious turn of events.

MY PERCEPTION

The film runs for 119 minutes and is set in real time of less than 24 hours. The chemistry between Sharman Joshi and Jaaved Jaaferi (yeah, that’s the spelling in this film while the actor keeps changing it pretty often) is very good.

Soha Ali Khan’s role as a correspondent is quite simple and she could not but do it well. There is no scope for emoting or acting that was required.

Manoj Pahwa

The comedy is not too bad but then again it was not that good either. I have seen way better performances by Sharman Joshi, Jaaved Jaaferi and Sanjay Mishra. Despite having four roles, Dalip Tahil was not used up to his potential.

Manoj Pahwa is excellent at comedy and very expressive. He was totally wasted in the film. In fact, the film reminded me of an ad Manoj Pahwa had featured in where he plays an officer in the Indian Military. He is offered a drink by his equal from Pakistan across the wire fence at the border. He was just fantastic in it.

All I can say is that there is no depth to the dialogues and execution. I would blame the writer-director for this.

Having mentioned all the negative points, I must say that the Story Idea is brilliant – befitting the oncoming Golden Age. I just loved the message that the people of both the countries – India and Pakistan – are not interested in war. That’s so true! And I am sure that includes the military of both countries too. It’s quite possible that we have become puppets in the hands of the stronger countries and they are playing on our insecurities. Very credible!

I only wish that the film had been made more interesting.

VERDICT: Watchable! But not worth the 220 bucks we paid per ticket.

RATING: ** ½ (could have been smarter)

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

WB Honours 2013: WASHROOMS AND BEYOND

The venue is set for WB Honours 2013

The third anniversary of the magazine Wb. Washrooms And Beyond was held at Trident, Nariman Point on Saturday, October 5, 2013. Nandita Choudhury from Media Pulse Public Relation had invited me to cover it on my blog.

Gnosis Services Private Ltd. is the company that owns and runs the magazine Wb. Washrooms And Beyond. Ms. Sheital Shetty is the Editor-Publisher of the magazine while Mr. Anurag Yadav is the Consulting Editor.

Awards Presentation

The award function had been organised to recognise the work of prominent personalities and organisations for their excellence in the field of washroom design and development. Innovators, designers and achievers from the industry had gathered together to celebrate the event.

We reached there at 7.30 pm and a fairly good crowd had already arrived. Cocktails and snacks were going strong and everyone appeared to be having a gala time.

The show finally began at 9.30 pm and did not drag for too long. The Emcee went up on stage and immediately began to announce the award winners. Short videos were shown of all the awardees and each one went up on stage to receive the award and certificate for their work.

The awards were as follows:

1. Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) for ‘Development of Model Public Washrooms by State Government’ - Mr. Nitesh B. Bole, Manager-Sales Mumbai from J.C. Decaux Advertising India Pvt. Ltd. received the award.

2. Department of Industrial Design, SPA, New Delhi for ‘Innovation in Public Washroom Design’ - Prof. Manoj Mathur, Head - Department of Industrial Design, School of Planning and Architecture; along with Prof. Parag Anand, Associate Professor and Ms. Aditi Singh, Faculty, received the Honour on behalf of School of Planning and Architecture.

3. PVR Director’s Cut for ‘Efficient Bathrooms at Building Complexes’ - Mr. Sameep Pathak, Regional General Manager from PVR Ltd. received the award.

4. Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. for ‘Intelligent Washroom Design at Airports’ - Mr. Manmohan Awasthi, Head – Project Finance, GMR Group received the award.

5. Mr. Sudhakaran Nair, President of the Indian Plumbing Association & Managing Director of Essenco India for ‘Special Contribution to Plumbing Design Development - Mr. B.S.A Narayan, Founder Director, Potential Service Consultants, Technical Advisor for Maple Hydraulics Consultants and Vice-President of the Indian Plumbing Association received the award on behalf of Mr. Nair.

Representatives of Trident Hyderabad receiving the award

6. Fort Chanwa Luni, Jodhpur for ‘Washroom Restoration in Heritage Buildings’ - Mr. K.D. Singh, General Manager, Fort Chanwa, Luni received the award.

7. Trident, Hyderabad for ‘Technology Driven Washrooms’ - Ms. Rabitha Thannooran, Sales Manager; and Mr. Harshad Makasare, Assistant Sales Manager, The Oberoi Group, received the award on behalf of Trident, Hyderabad.

8. Sukoon, The Eco Luxury Houseboat for ‘Green Washrooms’ - Ms. Purnima, Manager-Sales, Sukoon, The Eco-Luxury Houseboat received the award.

Designer of Sukoon, The Eco Luxury Houseboat receiving her award

9. Le Meridien, New Delhi for ‘Unique Interior Design in Hotel Washrooms’ - Mr. Tarun Thakral, COO, Le Meridien, New Delhi received the award.

10. WB Lifetime Achievement Honour 2013 – Mr. S.G. Deolalikar, Chairman Emeritus, Indian Plumbing Association received the award.

All the awardees came together on stage for a photograph. That’s when the 3rd anniversary issue of Wb. Washrooms And Beyond was released by Mr. S.G. Deolalikar.

Also, another magazine, by name Kitchen Ideas, was launched during the event. It’s a quarterly B2B magazine that focuses on kitchen design. Mr. Nadir Cassamo, owner of Leiken was present at the unveiling. He has travelled all the way from Portugal to be a part of the celebration.

Ms. Sheital Shetty spoke on behalf of Gnosis, saying, “It gives us immense pleasure to honour and felicitate individuals and properties that have contributed significantly in the growth and development of the washroom industry. Since the institution of WB Honours, we have observed an increasing realisation of the need to develop efficient, eco friendly and functional washrooms in any facility. WB Honours is recognition for good work done in this field, which is now an important part of any interior design project.”

I had also covered the WB Honours 2011 held at JW Marriott. The food served there was just awesome.

Mr. S.G. Deolalikar gives a speech after receiving The Lifetime Achievement Award

I can’t say the same about the dinner at Trident. While the drinks flowed freely and the starters were not too bad, the dinner was extremely mediocre, while the desserts were worse. They must have spent a huge packet on such a grand function. I felt quite bad that the food was nowhere up to the mark.

The group of award winners along with Ms. Sheital Shetty & Mr. Anurag Yadav as they launched the magazine

I was not too enamoured by the videos either. These were obviously presented by the entrants for the awards. They were in the form of slides with a narration. The sound was pretty unclear while the angles of the pictures in most of the slides were quite bad. The programme would have been way more interesting if they had had good videos of the prize winning entries with a clear narration. I am sure Gnosis will ensure that the issue is taken care of the next time.

Film Review: BESHARAM

Besharam is too mild a gaali for the makers of this film

The film had terrible reviews and Venkat refused to go. Vinny, Viggy and I booked for a morning show on Saturday at PVR Cinemas in Phoenix Market City at Kurla. The highlight of the morning was the nearly empty mall and PVR Cinemas.

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Pallavi Sharda, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Javed Jaffrey, Amitosh Nagpal
Director: Abhinav Kashyap

THE STORY

The film is set in Delhi. Babli (Ranbir Kapoor) and his sidekick Titu (Amitosh Nagpal) are car thieves. There is a reason for it. They are both orphans who are not educated. They have no knowledge of right and wrong. They steal cars, sell them and give the money to the orphanage where they live with a dozen other kids of various ages.

Chulbul (Rishi Kapoor) and Bulbul (Neetu Kapoor) work for the police department and are married to each other. Bheem Singh (Javed Jaffrey) is a ruthless criminal who deals in ‘hawala’ transactions. He kills first and talks later.

Tara Sharma (Pallavi Sharda) lives with her widowed mother. She’s well educated and works for an MNC. She has expensive tastes and owns a Mercedes car.

Watch the film to see what happens when Babli from the wrong side of the tracks falls for Tara AND steals her car unaware that it belongs to the woman he loves.

MY PERCEPTION

 Well, please don’t take my suggestion seriously and go to watch the film. At least, don’t waste good money in going to a theatre to do so. The film is bound to arrive in the small screen in maybe a month or two. You can always shut your TV off the moment you are bored.

Okay, I did not run away from the theatre and that was for one reason – Ranbir Kapoor. The other reason was Javed Jaffrey.

Now let me get all the positive points together. There isn’t much, of course.

Ranbir Kapoor is a superb actor and he has done total justice to the role. Javed Jaffrey’s get-up was nothing short of fabulous and he has done his part extremely well. Newcomer Pallavi Sharda looks cute and she can act. Amitosh Nagpal as Babli’s sidekick is very good.

The film was simply awful! There was a song every few minutes and they were not good at all – neither the music nor the scenes. They were each one of them pure torture.

There was nothing to the story and the film was made quite badly. What’s with the loo scenes, I wonder! Rishi Kapoor has been doing so well in his second series. I don’t want to pay good money to see how he uses the toilet. Ugh!

The fight sequences were too prolonged and the comic timing – if there was one – was quite bad. Himani Shivpuri is such a good actress. She was totally wasted in Besharam.

Besharam is too mild a gaali for the makers of this film. Do I say more?

VERDICT: Watch it at your own risk!

RATING: ** (Shaky)

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

TV Show: ANIL KAPOOR’S 24

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Tisca Chopra, Neil Bhoopalam, Mandira Bedi, Shabana Azmi, Sapna Pabbi, Anita Raj
Director: Abinay Deo

THE STORY

Anil Kapoor’s ‘24’ began on Friday, October 4, 2013 on Colors TV. This drama series is based on the Hollywood TV series by the same name.

Jai Singh Rathod (Anil Kapoor) heads the Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU) of the Indian government. His marriage to Trisha (Tisca Chopra) is on shaky ground as Jai is wedded to his job 24/7.

The show begins with Trisha’s birthday where both Jai and their daughter Kiran (Sapna Pabbi) bring a cake for her. But Jai is called to work just when the cake is being cut. An upset Kiran goes away with a friend to party all night. Trisha is left alone to bite her nails in tension as she does not know where her daughter is and Jai appears too busy to be bothered.

In the meanwhile, there’s a threat to the life of Aditya Singhania (Neil Bhoopalam), the to-be-sworn-in Prime Minister. What follows is a nail-biting thriller that happens over the next 24 hours real time.

MY PERCEPTION

I am not a fan of the small screen and prefer watching films on the big screen. I just happened to see the beginning of this show on Friday and was hooked. It’s quite interesting and is woven well with the Indian scenario. My son Vignesh is a fan of the Hollywood series and found this one not quite up to the mark. My argument is that there is no sense in comparing as this local series has been made to suit the Indian environment and it works for me.

It’s amazing to note that Anil Kapoor is all of 57. He has never been recognised as a great actor but he has done a number of commendable roles. I especially appreciated his work in Mr. India. This show must be a great challenge and so far it looks like the actor is up for it. Kudos Anil Kapoor!

I read somewhere that Anil Kapoor’s toughest challenge in this venture was getting the cast together. Well, I think it’s time to congratulate the actor as he has done a fantastic job of that. Each one of the actors is excellent, of what I have seen of the show so far. Neil Bhoopalam, Tisca Chopra, Sapna Pabbi, Anil Kapoor, Anita Raj and a whole lot of others including the ones playing the bad guys – all are very good.

One cannot help but compare the characters to the Gandhi family at the helm. Aditya Singhania’s character appears too much like Rahul Gandhi. Anita Raj plays his mother. His father used to be the Prime Minister who had been murdered. There is a sister and a drunkard for a brother-in-law too.

I missed the second episode on Saturday and searched the net for a repeat show on Sunday morning. There was not one. But luckily, Colors TV had uploaded the episode and I could watch it minus the advertisements, which was even better.

I eagerly look forward to the rest of the thriller.

‘24’ airs from 10-11 pm on Fridays & Saturdays on Colors TV.  There are 24 episodes in all set in real time.

Click Here to watch the episodes that you have missed.