Prayas – an amazing expression of creativity and beauty by students of Vranda Arts. Loved the energy and excitement of young kids as they explained their work and thought process.
Thanks to Vranda Rathi for inspiring the kids and giving the same platform as senior artists at Hutheesing Visual Art Centre. Thanks to Vranda’s mentoring and the awesome talent of young minds, I am confident we will see independent art exhibition of her proteges very soon! The future is bright, beautiful and spectacularly bewitching!
What happens when an apostle of truth tries to hide something?
What happens when momentary lapse threatens to derail an entire career and image?
What happens to ethics and values when life stress tests it?
Jalsa is a story of two unequal yet equal women whose life changes due to a twist of fate. Maya Menon is the face of truth of a digital channel. An accident threatens to derail her career and life. She is a mother of specially abled son who shares a great rapport with house-maid Rukshana and grandmother. Rukshana is a maid from the margins who makes an attempt to hold on to a life of dignity. She takes pride in her work and honesty like her boss Maya.
Maya is imperfect, sassy, bossy, vulnerable, confused, rebellious, smart.
Rukshana is real, raw, righteous, proud, hopeful, humane.
The outburst of Maya on her defenceless son is one of the highlights.
A great potential lay in other characters. Young journalist who is obstinate and wanting to break a story. An honest cop who is fearing a blemish on verge of his retirement. A youngster crazy about social media likes. Divorced husband. But the director ensures that the focus is on the core story and two strong fiery women.
The movie is not judgemental. The conflict is hidden. No over attention-seeking melodrama. Beyond gender and religion. It has one of the best beginnings that keeps you hooked. Great production values.
The ending will determine the way you relate to the movie. Weird like Maya and life? Improbable? Or a hurried climax – which not everyone appreciates!
Watch Jalsa for this…but watch Jalsa for the phenomenal brilliance of Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah. The way they have unleashed the storm of their talent – just amazing! The eyes, the expressions, the emotions, the body language, the voice modulation – sheer acting masterclass! And Rohini Hattangadi and Vidhatri Bandi make it a perfect women team. Shefali has an edge over Vidya for sure!
One more strong reason to watch Jalsa is the highly commendable and appreciative decision to cast Surya Kasibhatla as a specially abled Ayush. Surya has cerebral palsy and his character makes a great impact.
One of the blessings of Ignite forum is the opportunity to meet and interact with amazing people. One such wonderful experience was visit to Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital – India’s largest paediatric cardiac hospital.
The heart hospital is designed for free treatment for the low-income families – the ones who cannot afford cardiac treatment.
Free? There must be catch – there is our monkey mind speaking! The hospital does not have a cash counter / payments counter! Indeed, it is totally free of cost!
Charitable hospital? Is it any good? The hospital is world-class and can beat any institute hands-down. It again beats the myth of charitable being equated to ordinary or sub-standard.
Is it a religious hospital? No – It serves all people irrespective of race, religion or nationality!
Now that we have broken some myths, let us look at some of its impressive features:
1. The hospital treats patients at zero cost. Whether it is a simple procedure or complex surgery, all patients are treated free.
2. The patients can stay as long as they want.
3. The hospital is in lush-green campus with world-class facilities. Almost 70K Square Yards. 310 beds.
4. The doctors and para-medical staff stay on the campus. In case of emergency, this is critical in saving a life!
5. The hospital is self-contained with all other medical departments and units.
6. The relatives of the patients can stay in the dormitory.
7. The kitchen is spic and span – the food is amazingly hygienic and good
8. The hospital runs on complete charity and donations. Not a single paise from the patients.
9. All donations are through cheque and legal.
10. The magnificent campus is designed by renowned architect Bimal Patel. A great reference project by itself!
See it to believe it!
And the most important are the human stories! The biggest impact area is saving lives of people! 20 lakh patients have benefited and more than 20K surgeries have been operated. Often, poor people do not have money to support costly cardiac treatments. In some cases, parents do not take any special effort for saving the life of a child. Neither they can afford spending a fortune on the medical treatment nor they have the means! Often they give up or resign themselves to the fate – consoling themselves or resorting to the fact that they can always have another child – thus not valuing the sick child’s life! So disturbing! In some cases, family does not provide financial or non-financial support. In all such cases, this hospital is indeed a God-sent answer!
During our visit, we met several young children – hearing their life stories was a moving experience. One of the girls we met, P, wants to be Cardiologist and help the fellow kids in future. She wants to give back to the world – what she got – many times over!
The hospital is winning hearts and blessings by saving their lives and giving them a future! What they cannot pay in money, they pay in their blessings!
The hospital is a perfect example of vision and action in sync! The great idea and vision is implemented with corporate efficiency on one hand and compassionate service on another hand. Hats off to Shri Manoj Bhimani and Prashanti Trust for serving thousands of people with dignity, grace and world-class care.
1. Spread the word – So that everyone who needs the help for cardiac treatment – can get it!
2. Donate – You can help with donations – every penny counts!
3. Volunteer – Whether you are a doctor or IT professional or business, volunteer your time and skills!
Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital – It is not a hospital, it an indeed a temple of healing! The true religion is serving humanity and this temple is the best example of selfless service!
Contact:
SRI SATHYA SAI HEART HOSPITAL
Plot No:23/B Village Kasindra, Opp to Vishvakarma Temple, Sarkhej – Dholka Highway, Ahmedabad.
Risk Hai To Ishq Hai….Harshad Mehta’s Equivalent of Gorden Gekko’s ‘Greed Is Good’
The versatile and classy director of Aligarh and Citylights, Hansal Mehta, presents the riveting tale of Harshad Mehta – once celebrated aas the ‘Big Bull’ of Indian stock markets. The 10 episode series is presented from former Times Of India journalist Sucheta Dala’s perspective and is based on her book Scam.
Harshad Mehta’s rise from an outsider to ‘BSE Ka Bachchan’& ‘Big Bull’ is shown amazingly well. It showcases how Harshad Mehta found loopholes in the Indian stock market and exploited them for his benefit. It also depicts the unholy nexus between banks, financial institutions, government officials and Godmen. Many names are clearly targeted – Chandraswami, Prime Minister Rao, Citibank etc. One can also see the early days of Ketan Parekh and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala in the series.
Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu get a tip on the wrong-doings of Mehta and gang and they pursue it to relentlessly.
Pratik Gandhi shines as Harshad Mehta and does full justice to the character – smart, shrewd, arrogant, showman. Shrey Dhanwanthary shines as the passionate and fiery journalist. The support cast is excellent and they add great texture to the layered drama – Satish Kaushik, Anant Mahadevan, Nikhil Dwivedi, Rajat Kapoor, K K Raina etc.
Loved the old warm charm of Bombay – 80s and 90s! Writer and Director do a good balancing act – Scam 1992 does not end as adulatory Hagiography nor it is a witch-hunt. The series could have done with better editing. The songs in the credits are wonderful. Mat Kar Maya Ka Ahankar is the beautiful end song to wrap the series…….Awesome!
