Something for everyone
What do you get at a typical bar and grill house? Beer and barbecues mostly. But Oskar Bar and Grill at Panipokhari Heights (opposite the Japanese Embassy) offers much more, both in terms of food and ambience. Apart from the regular grilled meat options, Oskar’s menu has special considerations for vegetarians and other less voracious meat eaters too. So the menu offers everything from falafels to tacos, hummus and pita to bruschetta, pizzas, pastas and more, all with vegetarian options.
What separates Oskar from other eateries is that it is much more than just a restaurant. Oskar hosts a variety of events in its premises and hence has become a favorite hangout for its regular clients, celebrities and socialites. Music nights, football screenings, cocktail parties and salsa nights are a regular feature at Oskar besides the special events and programs it hosts.
THE MENU
Chef’s Special:
- Mediterranean Tacos
- Nicoise Salad
- Penne Arrabiata
Opening hours:
- 11 am to 11 pm
Location:
- Panipokhari, Ktm
Cards:
- Accepted
Meal for 2:
- Rs 2500
Reservations:
- 01-4418648
Loose script sinks this ship
‘Thugs of Hindostan’ reunites writer/director Vijay Krishna Acharya and leading Bollywood star Aamir Khan, whose previous team up gave us ‘Dhoom 3’—the 2013 heist film that saw Khan play an illusionist turned bank robber. Accused of drawing on plot elements from ‘The Prestige’ and ‘Now You See Me’ and featuring VFX mayhem of crazy and outright silly action stunts, the third installment of the Dhoom series was mostly panned. But despite its weak critical reception, it went on to become a Bollywood blockbuster. While still riding on the high wave of making one of the highest earning Hindi films ever, Acharya and Khan were handed a mammoth budget for their next film, Thugs of Hindostan, deemed to be the most expensive Hindi film ever made. If only lavish spending could magically transform mediocre storytelling. Thugs of Hindostan is a poorly structured film that tries to cover up its design faults with patchy VFX work and overbearingly loud action sequences. Movie audiences will fail to find a true Bollywood adventure; but rather an exhaustive ordeal that whirlpools with predictability.
The year is 1795 and India is under the control of British East India Company. We meet Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan), a smooth-talking trickster who earns his bread by helping gangs of Indian thugs rob passing travelers and then double crossing those Indian thugs by handing them over to the British officials. Impressed by his tricks and charms, and the notion that his loyalty can be bought, the cruel British officer Clive (Lloyd Owen) gives Firangi the job to infiltrate the gang of outlaws led by Khudabaksh Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan), who seeks to chase away the British from the kingdom of Raunakpur, so that Princess Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh), the rightful heiress to the throne, gets her kingdom back.
Even though Vijay Krishna Acharya sets his film during the British Raj, Thugs of Hindostan is historically inaccurate. He chooses the aesthetics of classic Hollywood swashbuckler adventures featuring pirates, cannon fights and swords duels. Khudabaksh’s outlaws live like gypsies in a cave and Firangi’s dressed like the Mad Hatter in ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Anyone used to this familiar narrative could easily guess how things proceed after Firangi penetrates Khudabaksh’s gang and how his unchanging deceitful nature is transformed by a greater calling. Acharya packs in no new surprises to challenge our assumptions.
Aamir Khan makes do by portraying Firangi in animated and playful strokes. What’s essentially missing from Firangi is that he’s not much likable as the film’s protagonist. His double crossing intention is stretched so far that when he has a change of heart, it feels very make believe. Bachchan as Khudabaksh mostly glooms and harps on about “freedom” and “country’s soil”. Fatima Sana Shaikh, who ought to be the film’s emotional core and the one who wants to come to peace with her parents’ murder at the hands of the British, is sidelined by the stature of both Khan and Bachchan. She strictly maintains a tight face and emotes the feeling of distaste throughout the movie. And poor Katrina Kaif is restricted to two song sequences and in very brief flirty exchanges with Firangi.
Thugs of Hindostan is very predictable and rarely has moments that take you to the edge of your seat. If the film turns out to be a box office winner for Aamir Khan and Vijay Krishna Acharya, then the real victims will be the audiences who let themselves get tricked by a movie made with sheer lack of imagination, ambition and purpose.
Shalom Himalaya & sekwa
Spize—the authentic Nepali style food joint—is doing everything right to attract hungry Nepali and foreign foodies to its small and cozy premises in Bhagwati Marga, Thamel. Spize is dedicated to providing cheap, delicious and hygienic food to its guests. It serves traditional Nepali as well as travelers’ food using Himalayan spices as flavor. The restaurant offers unique breakfast options. You can for instance choose to have Shalom Himalaya, iTraveller, Trekkers’ Delight, Lost in Thamel or Full Everest (all set-breakfast options) to start your day. All served with fresh brewed coffee.
Momo, chowmein, sekuwa and other Newari snacks are an all-day affair and Spize also offers the very famous Thakali Set, a favorite among its customers.
THE MENU
Chef’s Special:
- Silver Dollar Pancakes
- Thakali food Set
- Grilled Chicken Satay
Opening hours: 8 am-9 pm
Location: Thamel
Cards: Not Accepted
Meal for 2: Rs 600
Reservations: 014413730
A financial thriller gone bust
It’s impossible to scavenge a single moment of originality in ‘Baazaar’. Director Gauravv K. Chawla tries to put on the big boots of Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone to present an Indian twist to those iconic Hollywood Wall Street movies about big-league stock market players. But Baazaar is a film made without gambling much on new ideas. Instead it sails on safe waters to head on a narrative journey that has been done to death. Small-town stock trader Rizwan (Rohan Mehra) thinks it’s time to leave behind his middle-class roots and his principled father, who values honesty and simple living, for a high-stake life of stock trading in Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, the gooey-eyed and determined Rizwan works hard to first get accepted at a top-tier stock broking company and climb the ladder to ultimately work side-by-side his idol Sakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan), a self-made business tycoon known for his questionable investment methods. Once our young rookie gets close to the seasoned player, it becomes pretty clear that swimming with sharks like Sakun comes with both perks and threats.
The screenplay doesn’t get too hard on the protagonist. Writers Aseem Arora and Parveez Sheikh pepper many mini-crises and close escapes at regular intervals. None of these land any empathetic effect or make us care for Rizwan.
We see him easily cruising out of these sticky situations because the writers give him too many lucky breaks and chances. Rohan Mehra, the spruced-up debutant, as Rizwan has an overbearing presence, amplified by his average acting talent and his weakly written character who is arrogant, overconfident and stupid, but never very likable.
Saif Ali Khan’s Sakun Kothari is also pretty generic and one-dimensional. From his first scene he’s established as a menacing and mean-spirited sociopath. But his mind games get tad too repetitive and lose steam as the story moves on. And the women of Baazaar, Radhika Apte and Chitrangda Singh, are wasted. They function as mere plot devices and are never given any character depth.
With an unoriginal story and less-than-inspiring performances, Baazaar lacks the ambitiousness to sell something interesting about the Indian stock market.
Just like Rizwan hero-worships Sakun, director Gauravv K. Chawla bows to films like 2013’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and 1987’s ‘Wall Street’ as his holy grail. And in an attempt to recreate the arcs and themes of those films, Chawla is too boxed in by the glitz and glare of the Hollywood portrayal of the stock market world that he deprives us of a uniquely Indian context.
Baazaar is the kind of movie that could’ve worked had it released five years ago. Today, due to our exposure to lot of American TV series and films, it feels formulaic and isn’t clever enough to make us rave about it. To say the least, the film will be easily forgotten and wouldn’t increase the marketing values of the makers and actors involved O
It’s impossible to scavenge a single moment of originality in ‘Baazaar’. Director Gauravv K. Chawla tries to put on the big boots of Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone to present an Indian twist to those iconic Hollywood Wall Street movies about big-league stock market players. But Baazaar is a film made without gambling much on new ideas. Instead it sails on safe waters to head on a narrative journey that has been done to death. Small-town stock trader Rizwan (Rohan Mehra) thinks it’s time to leave behind his middle-class roots and his principled father, who values honesty and simple living, for a high-stake life of stock trading in Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, the gooey-eyed and determined Rizwan works hard to first get accepted at a top-tier stock broking company and climb the ladder to ultimately work side-by-side his idol Sakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan), a self-made business tycoon known for his questionable investment methods. Once our young rookie gets close to the seasoned player, it becomes pretty clear that swimming with sharks like Sakun comes with both perks and threats.
The screenplay doesn’t get too hard on the protagonist. Writers Aseem Arora and Parveez Sheikh pepper many mini-crises and close escapes at regular intervals. None of these land any empathetic effect or make us care for Rizwan.
We see him easily cruising out of these sticky situations because the writers give him too many lucky breaks and chances. Rohan Mehra, the spruced-up debutant, as Rizwan has an overbearing presence, amplified by his average acting talent and his weakly written character who is arrogant, overconfident and stupid, but never very likable.
Saif Ali Khan’s Sakun Kothari is also pretty generic and one-dimensional. From his first scene he’s established as a menacing and mean-spirited sociopath. But his mind games get tad too repetitive and lose steam as the story moves on. And the women of Baazaar, Radhika Apte and Chitrangda Singh, are wasted. They function as mere plot devices and are never given any character depth.
With an unoriginal story and less-than-inspiring performances, Baazaar lacks the ambitiousness to sell something interesting about the Indian stock market.
Just like Rizwan hero-worships Sakun, director Gauravv K. Chawla bows to films like 2013’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and 1987’s ‘Wall Street’ as his holy grail. And in an attempt to recreate the arcs and themes of those films, Chawla is too boxed in by the glitz and glare of the Hollywood portrayal of the stock market world that he deprives us of a uniquely Indian context.
Baazaar is the kind of movie that could’ve worked had it released five years ago. Today, due to our exposure to lot of American TV series and films, it feels formulaic and isn’t clever enough to make us rave about it. To say the least, the film will be easily forgotten and wouldn’t increase the marketing values of the makers and actors involved.
