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Three young college graduates, all close friends, aspire to realize their ultimate dream in Bengaluru, India’s IT capital. Their dream mirrors that of thousands of other IT graduates in the Indian subcontinent—to launch their own startup and make it big.

So Kapil (Priyanshu Painyuli), Yash (Chandrachoor Rai) and Vinay (Shadab Kamal) compete hard against other techies like themselves to sell their ideas and get funds to start their company. Among the three, Kapil seems the most motivated, coming up with ideas for apps that are sometime as absurd as putting wi-fi enabled transmitters on underwear so that they’re not lost. Even with their goals set, the boys from middle-class families also work as employees in tech companies for a living.

Then, one day, while volunteering in rural Karnataka, Kapil sees a person die before him for lack of a life-saving injection that is otherwise easily available in cities. That gives him an idea for a startup. With both Yash and Vinay’s support on this one, the trio start a company called CarryKaro, which is supposed to work like an aggregator for medicinal supplies in rural areas, using commuters to the areas as carriers. In short, CarryKaro is to be an “Uber for medicines.”

They start well but soon run out of cash. Enter a rich heir, Veer Diwan (Rajeev Siddhartha), with a major investment. But the trouble is only just starting. As the company gets bigger, so do differences between the friends, resulting in many arguments and separations. How these young techies deal with their sudden success and the sheer brutality of corporate world is what the movie “Upstarts” is all about.

Released in October 2019, Upstarts is a low-budget Hindi-language movie that takes the audience behind-the-scenes of the tech world. With a cast of new comers and lesser-known faces, the film portrays the hardships behind technological advances we see and also celebrates the number of startups that fail.

Directed by Udai Singh Pawar, the independent film is not commercialized to suit Bollywood audiences though. Upstarts rather takes a more realistic approach in dealing with the subject and maintains its integrity as a serious, non-nonsense film throughout.

As much as it's a work of fiction, Upstarts is based on a storyline that could well be a true story out of Bengaluru, or any other up-and-coming city in the world. What is also interesting is that the writers include industry jargons and financial explanations that give the audience a bit of education along with entertainment.

Even with its less-experienced cast and no ‘star power’ to drive it, the film does not feel amateurish at any point. The actors seem to follow the script by the book and overall filmmaking appears perfect for a Netflix release.

Had the film not been a grueling 1hr 52mins long, the viewing would have been that much better. We appreciate that the film does not get too fictional or melodramatic or masala-laced but without Bollywood’s filmy elements, the feature length feels a little too long.

Who should watch it?

Even if it is not that popular or commercially successful, Upstarts can be an inspiring film for young entrepreneurs or IT students. For the rest, the story of struggles, successes and failures is also definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Drama

Cast: Priyanshu Painyuli, Chandrachoor Rai, Shadab Kamal

Director: Udai Singh Pawar

Run time: 1hr 52mins

“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr has a piece of my heart, one of those books that makes me sigh whenever I see its spine on the bookshelf. I wish I could forget every word I read and then discover it all over again. The winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction tells the story of a blind French girl and a German boy as they try to survive the devastation of the Second World War. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. Doerr’s language casts a spell.

I came across “Four Seasons in Rome” as I was hunting through the shelves at Pilgrims Bookstore in Thamel, Kathmandu, looking for something fun and uplifting to read. I’d had a rather long bout of bad luck with books. I was sure Doerr would get me out of the rut. He did. And how.

Anthony Doerr

Four Seasons in Rome is a memoir/travel book about a year in Doerr’s life after he wins a prestigious award. The prize is a year in Rome with a writing studio and an apartment at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He gets the news on the day his wife gives birth to twins. As he was already researching for what would go on to become the bestselling novel, All the Light We Cannot See, he figures he could use a year to sit down, focus, and write. So, the couple moves to Rome when the twins are just six-months old.

This relatively short book (compared to his other works) is a breezy read, one that takes you into the heart of fascinating alleyways, sweet-smelling bakeries, and stunning architectural marvels of Rome. It makes you want to get on the next flight to discover the city for yourself. His detailed descriptions paint a vivid picture and you want to be there, taking it all in.

Though the book is mainly about Rome and navigating life in a new city where everything feels foreign yet familiar at the same time, it’s also equally about parenthood, the bittersweetness of life, and the ultimate truth that everything is impermanent. Doerr keeps reminding you that life is “sweet, made sweeter because of its impermanence”. His words wash over you and often succeed in getting you to put the book down and take a minute to be grateful for all that you have.

However, Doerr’s strongest point is the way he writes. He isn’t writing to impress. He keeps things simple, which is often the hardest thing to do when writing. It keeps you engaged and intrigued. Reading Four Seasons in Rome is like having a one-on-one conversation with the author—one that has you falling in love right from the start.

Biography

Four Seasons in Rome

Anthony Doerr

Published: 2007

Publisher: 4th Estate

Language: English

Pages: 210, Paperback

Indian filmmaker Anurag Basu tries to pull off a Quentin Tarantino in his latest film “Ludo”. He co-produces, co-cinematographs, writes and directs an ensemble cast, and plays a prominent cameo. Also in the blueprint of Tarantino movies, Ludo has a nonlinear storyline, aestheticizes violence, and has a soundtrack that is a mixtape of various genres—with a classic Bollywood song repeatedly used as motif—and sheer unpredictability.

But is Ludo going to be a cult classic like “Pulp Fiction” or “Jackie Brown”? Only time will tell. The response so far has been promising for this toned-down action, crime-comedy movie.

As in a game of Ludo—a variant of Pachisi that originated in India—the movie Ludo has four different players. Akash Chauhan (Aditya Roy Kapur) apparently has a PhD in Arts but works as a small-time voice-over artist and ventriloquist. One day, he finds there’s a sex video of him circulating on the internet. His partner in the video, Shruti Choksi (Sanya Malhotra), is about to get married to someone else. Akash sets out to make it right to save Shruti’s marriage.

Alok Kumar “Alu” Gupta (Rajkummar Rao) is a conman turned dhaba-owner who’s still in love with his childhood crush Pinky Jain (Fatima Sana Shaikh). But for Pinky, he’s just a friend who helps her whenever she is in trouble. Pinky is married and has a child with Manohar (Paritosh Tripathi). When Manohar is taken into custody as a murder-accused, Pinky asks Alok for help again. And again, Alok decides to get her out of trouble, even at the cost of losing everything he owns.

Then there is Batukeshwar “Bittu” Tiwari (Abhishek Bachchan) who’s just out of the slammer after serving a six-year attempt-to-murder sentence and wants to get back to normal life with his wife Asha (Asha Negi) and daughter Ruhi. The fourth player, or players, are salesboy Rahul Awasthi (Rohit Suresh Saraf) and nurse Sheeja Thomas (Pearle Maaney)—two strangers who by chance come across a million-rupee in cash and become partners in crime.

All four players in Ludo get entangled with each other and are moved around by Rahul Satyendra “Sattu Bhaiya” Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi) who seems to be the metaphorical dice in the movie. Had Anurag Basu stuck to the four players and their interactions with each other, all being dominated by how the dice (Saatu Bhaiya) rolls, the movie would have had a faster pace and steadier momentum. But Basu spoils his own broth with too many sub-plots that make Ludo seem more like snakes and ladders. The movie’s length of 2hrs 29mins also gets lousy at times, only proving that Mr Basu is no Tarantino—not yet. 

Otherwise, everything else about the movie exudes brilliance. Acting is almost flawless, probably because of the cast of talented actors, and because individual screen time is too short for the characters to goof up. The script, despite indulging in multiple storylines, is nonetheless intact till the end where the climax waits with a few surprises and a revelation.

But if anything needs to be applauded, it has to be the cinematography. Basu, with fellow cinematographer Rajesh Shukla, creates magical moments with camerawork and lighting. The colors of Ludo board game are carefully assigned to Akash (yellow), Alok (green), Bittu (red) and Rahul-Sheeja (yellow). These color schemes appear onscreen whenever the respective characters are showcased, sometimes subtly and sometimes very noticeably. Camera angles and lighting set an uncanny mood, again mimicking Tarantino style.

Who should watch it?

Ludo is one of the best new releases on Netflix in the past few months, so why not? Especially, if you watched the recent disaster called Laxmii (Bomb). You definitely need to watch Ludo to get you out of coma.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Action/comedy

Director: Anurag Basu

Actors: Rajkummar Rao, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Sheeja Thomas, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi

Run time: 2hrs 29mins

At bookstores, I’m always thrilled to come across debut novels. Sometimes, I even squeal a bit with joy. Though there haven’t been many debut books I have loved, every time there’s a book by a new author in the market I’m filled with nervous excitement. It’s also amazing how debut novels come with dust jackets filled with over-the-top claims by bestselling authors. ‘Darling Rose’ by Stephanie Wrobel has the likes of Lee Child and Lisa Jewell calling it “sensationally good” and “absolutely brilliant”. And it had a pretty cover too.

But I should have learnt my lesson by now and not judged a book by its cover. Touted as a thriller that explores the relationship between parents and children, more specifically a mother and a daughter, Darling Rose is dull and predictable. It could have been interesting had the author focused on either making the plot more fast-paced or developed the characters a more. With neither engaging plot nor fascinating characters, the book fails to impress.  

I have to say the premise held promise. It was unlike anything I had ever come across. For 18 years, Rose Gold Watts, daughter of Patty Watts, believes that she is sick and needs the feeding tube and surgeries to stay alive. Turns out, Patty has been poisoning her own daughter to make sure Rose Gold can never live without her. All Patty ever wanted was to love someone and be loved in return. Also, she craves the attention she gets as a single mother of a sickly child. Then, she is sent to prison for aggravated child abuse. Rose Gold’s testimony is key in her sentencing.

After five years, Patty is ready to put old grievances behind and Rose Gold, who didn’t talk to her mother for a few years of her jail term, also wants to mend their relationship. She even agrees to let Patty live with her and her son, Adam. But nothing is as it seems. Patty still seems to seek control, if not of Rose Gold, then of Adam. And Rose Gold isn’t as meek as she once used to be and she might not have forgiven Patty.

Wrobel came up with an intriguing idea but couldn’t do it justice. Darling Rose Gold is a colossal waste of a good plot as Wrobel fails to evoke drama and tension in her writing. There is absolutely no suspense. Things are exactly how they appear to be. Even the twist in the end—which you see coming—does nothing to salvage the story. It’s good writing, in bits and pieces, but that’s about it.

Fiction

Darling Rose Gold

Stephanie Wrobel

Published: 2020

Publisher: Michael Joseph (an imprint of Penguin Books)

Language: English

Pages: 345, Hardcover