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Top 10 Popular Bengali Movies on Friendship

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Before I begin, a Happy Friendship Day to all my readers. Hope you have plans with your friends and other friendly people in your life. Today, I wanted to write about a few Bengali films that have won the hearts of millions over the ages by portraying the importance of friendship through thick and thin, differences and goof-ups. Here are my picks: 1. Basanta Bilap: One of the funniest movies ever made in Bengal, this movie is about a group of bachelor men, living opposite a working women's hostel. Both groups cannot stand each other, and mostly pit against each other, either to ridicule or to demean the other. However, through a series of mishappenings, situations change for the better.  Directed by Dinen Gupta, the movie stars Soumitra Chatterji and Aparna Sen in lead roles, alongside an incredible supporting cast of Rabi Ghosh, Anup Kumar, Chinmay Roy and Sumitra Mukherji. This movie is a laugh riot. The music by Sudhin Dasgupta is amazing. 2. Aranyer Din Ratri: 4 friends leave ...

Feedbacks- Friend or Foe #blogchatterbloghop

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I still remember that, as a newlywed, every time I prepared a new dish, I eagerly sought feedback. Well, I have stopped doing that nowadays. I started as a blogger in 2011. As I started my blog from Europe, I began engaging with other European bloggers and was surprised to receive their feedback and comments on my blog. It was an undeclared bond that we established. I still remember making some sort of pen pal with one of the loveliest French women, who hopped between New York and Paris and had a career in Fashion. She was eager to know about my culture, and so was I. We continued to leave feedback on our latest blog posts, and thus, our curiosity was piqued to learn more about our culture and lifestyle.  Back to now, after 14 years of blogging, I realised it always helps to gather the best feedback from a community that shares my interests. I get feedback from other writers, book bloggers and movie enthusiasts about whatever I write. These are genuine pieces of feedback from peopl...

Book Review: The Simplest Guide to Religion by Tomichan Matheikhal

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Being an overthinker is a disguised blessing. One might feel restless, doubtful, and annoyed by the inner turmoil, but once you get over that state, you realise this was a necessary phase. And what can bring about such a stir in one's mind than a good book! The Simplest Guide to Religion by Tomichan Matheikal falls under this category. Earlier, when I read something that tickles my thinking cells, I used to read it in one go. But now I prefer to take my time, read chapters with breaks in between, and read something light-hearted. This I call a breather. I took breathers in between reading the book, because I wanted to think while reading.  About the Book:  The book, The Simplest Guide to Religion , is rightly referred to as a guide to acquiring knowledge about the human tendency to lean towards the sacred- the reason, the causes, the philosophies and the effect. The author has brilliantly segmented each doctrine, beginning with the primitive practices of worshipping natural...

6 Movies Based on True Crime

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I had watched a few true-crime movies; some crimes had been covered in multiple films. This theme popped into my mind after we watched the web series Raakh, which was also based on a true crime. Raman Raghav was another film that comes to mind when we think of Hindi films. Today, we decided to create a list of true-crime movies I discovered much later, after they were released. 1. Dahmer: There are multiple movies based on Jeffrey Dahmer, the cannibal serial killer who terrorised Milwaukee throughout the 70s and 80s. The most recent one was My Friend Dahmer, which was released in 2017. However, much earlier, Jeremy Renner played Dahmer in the titular role. The movie, released in 2002, was directed by David Jacobson. Much of the film was based on Dahmer's thoughts and pre- and post murder activities. Renner's sincere portrayal was noteworthy. However, the direction seemed inconsistent, with a slower beginning and a much more hurried ending.  2. Boston Strangler: During the 1960...

Travelling Back to the Land of Fairy Tales

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When it rains, I feel dull. My inner child screams, "muddy-puddles-yippy," but my outer serious mommy says, " noooo." In this everlasting dilemma of whether to embrace the rains or to just pass it off as a natural hazard, I am choosing to get into the forgotten land of fairy tales today. No, no, I have not got hold of any time machine, so let my mind be the Time machine for today. Hopefully, my inner child would be happy now. Oops, here I was now, a world full of mythical creatures- was that a unicorn? It just galloped past me. Wait, who were those tiny men over there? Holy me, those were elves, with long ears, peeping out of their long hats. I could hear waves somewhere nearby. Was the shore not far off? Oh, here! The sea just popped out of nowhere! But who was that sitting on the shore? A pretty girl with red hair and a fish-tail. That's Ariel- our little mermaid. I went to her. "Hey Ariel, how are you? You look upset." She appeared sad, looking at m...

3 Modern Bengali Women Writers I Enjoy Reading

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The first Bengali woman author I read was Ashapurna Debi . And then there was Leela Majumdar, followed by Nabanita Deb Sen and Nalini Das. They were the pioneers among women authors of the post-Rabindranath era, when many women authors held their own. Now, a question may arise : why am I not naming  Mahasweta Debi?  This is because I am talking about the ones I have read in serial form since my childhood. The above-mentioned women authors wrote many children's books. However, I had read Mahsweta Debi much later in life, during my college days, as her work mostly revolved around serious matters. Much later, I discovered again that she had also written many books for children, but I was not aware of those earlier. However, today, I would be talking about women authors who came after these stalwarts. So, without further delay, let's talk about the Top 3 modern Bengali Women authors I enjoy reading. 1. Suchitra Bhattacharya: Just as with any other author, my journey with Such...

Top 4 One Man Army Movies I Watched Recently

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When I close my eyes and think of One-Man-Army movies, the one that immediately knocks my sleepy mind is the Taken franchise of Liam Neeson. I know there are many more, but my mind is fixated on those films. (I haven't watched John Wick or Jack Reacher.) In Hindi Films, I had watched a few movies of late, quite late though. But still, I would like to list those few. I am not a fan of action films, but I end up watching them. So, my recent watches include: 1. Subedaar: After playing the father to many a hero of late, here he is, a father who is the main hero. He is back with his 80s action avatar, the image we grew up watching. And he is great at that. We are talking about Anil Kapoor. Supported by a strong cast of villains, especially Mona Singh as the vile Godmother, Babli Didi and Aditya Rawal as her evil brother, the movie is a good one-time watch. The father-daughter chemistry is very different. If not, watch it for Kapoor and his comeback as the action star. 2. Crazxy: I reme...